June 2026 Was Western Europe's Hottest on Record, Second Hottest Globally, Report Finds
Copernicus said average temperatures reached 20.74 degrees Celsius as the heatwave closed schools, disrupted power and fueled wildfires across Europe.
- On Thursday, the Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that Western Europe experienced its hottest June on record, averaging a little over 69 degrees Fahrenheit, or nearly 5.5 degrees above average.
- Samantha Burgess, a climate expert at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said June's conditions "underscored how profoundly the climate is changing," with a warming climate system accumulating heat and the Pacific Ocean El Niño cycle influencing global weather patterns.
- The heat resulted in more than 1,300 deaths across Europe, with France recording about 1,000 excess deaths mainly in elderly residents. Wildfires in southern France burned through more than 11,000 acres as of Monday, forcing roughly 10,000 evacuations.
- Kurt Shickman of the World Resources Institute warned that high nighttime temperatures prevent bodily recovery, stating "the body isn't able to recover sufficiently." Adaptation measures could have reduced heat-related deaths by as much as 75 percent.
- According to the World Weather Attribution initiative, climate change is driving a "new, dangerous norm" that would have been virtually impossible 50 years ago, with the current El Niño potentially intensifying extreme weather through spring 2027.
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35 Articles
Several countries in Europe broke heat records in June. New analysis confirms that the month was the warmest on record.
Several countries in Europe broke heat records in June. New analysis confirms that the month was the warmest on record.
Thousands of deaths were linked to this surge in temperatures, mainly in France, Spain and Belgium, and more than two thirds of Europeans – or 410 million people – experienced temperatures above 35°C during the heat wave from 15 to 30 June.
Algemeen Dagblad
Western Europe has just experienced its hottest June on record, the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service reports in its monthly report. An extreme heatwave at the end of the month broke temperature records, and national authorities reported more than 4,700 additional deaths in France, Belgium, Spain, and the Netherlands during the heatwave.
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