Western Europe has broken a string of unwanted weather records in June and July amid warnings that the intense heat will have a profound effect.

Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), reported the average temperature for June–July for western Europe was the highest on record, at 21.62°C or 2.79°C above average, surpassing the previous record from 2022 and reflecting the exceptional persistence of heat since the beginning of summer.

It brings with it new threats. C3S said last month the prolonged hot and dry conditions in western Europe led to the spread and intensification of extreme wildfires.

The month also saw the highest sea surface temperature (SST) ever recorded for July across the extra-polar oceans, partly fuelled by developing El Niño conditions in the equatorial Pacific.

“July 2026 was the third consecutive month of exceptional heat in western Europe, bringing the combined temperature for June and July to a new record for the region,” said Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). “Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over western Europe, the extreme temperatures also amplified widespread drought. As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily. This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another.”
July saw exceptionally high temperatures for the month across a large portion of the tropical Pacific, an area where El Niño conditions are present and forecast to further strengthen in the coming months. Around Europe, record high SSTs along the Atlantic and western Mediterranean were associated with widespread strong or severe marine heatwaves, affecting coastal communities and ecosystems.

Western Europe experienced its hottest June-July period on record and July saw the third and fourth heatwaves since May, marking an exceptional run of extreme heat this summer. Much of the region also saw the widespread dryness observed in May and June persist and intensify, with exceptionally low rainfall and/or soil moisture reported for France, Spain, parts of Germany and the UK. Across the dry regions, river flows were much lower than average or exceptionally low, with the Seine, Rhine and Danube particularly affected, impacting water supply, irrigation and energy production in several countries.

Globally, the month was the joint second warmest July on record, with an average surface air temperature 1.47°C hotter than the estimated pre-industrial baseline (1850-1900 average).

Laurence Rouil, Director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) at ECMWF  concluded: “Last month saw exceptional wildfire activity across western Europe, in terms of the area burnt and emissions. Climate change is increasingly bringing the kinds of hot and dry conditions that favour large, high-intensity wildfires in southern Europe while extending the fire season northwards. Larger fires produce more smoke and inject it higher into the atmosphere, meaning it can travel further and impact air quality not only locally, but across the wider region. Countries that experience relatively few wildfires may be increasingly impacted by long range transport of smoke, even if they are thousands of kilometres away.”