Last month was the joint second-warmest July on record, tied with July 2024 and just 0.05°C behind the record high set in July 2023, EU earth-monitoring programme Copernicus said today.
The global average surface air temperature in July was 16.90°C, 0.67°C higher than the 1991-2020 average for July, and 1.47°C above the pre-industrial average, Copernicus data show.
The Paris climate agreement seeks to curb the global rise in temperature to "well below" 2°C above pre-industrial levels, and pursues a 1.5°C limit.
An "exceptional run of extreme heat" continued in July in western Europe, Copernicus noted. The region has been very dry since May, with "exceptionally low rainfall" and soil moisture levels reported in France, Spain, the UK and parts of Germany, it said. This has intensified and led to very low river flows, including on the Danube and Rhine. Some countries have been forced to shut down nuclear power units, owing to a lack of cooling water, including Hungary and Romania.
The extreme heat in western Europe in May-July "also amplified widespread drought", Copernicus' strategic lead for climate Samantha Burgess said. "As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily", she said.
The conditions in western Europe were "conducive to exceptional wildfire activity… in terms of burnt area and emissions", Copernicus said. Wildfires in the EU this year burnt 500,852 hectares by 6 August, EU data show — nearly a third higher than the area burnt in the same period of 2025, the worst year for wildfires on record.
Global ocean temperatures also reached "exceptionally high" levels in July, Copernicus said. The average sea surface temperature in July was 20.96°C, the highest recorded for the month and surpassing the previous record set in July 2023, its data show.
Sea surface temperatures remained extremely high in large parts of the tropical Pacific Ocean, where El Nino conditions are forecast to strengthen further. El Nino, and its opposite phase La Nina, are naturally occurring weather patterns. El Nino typically leads to higher global temperatures.
The World Meteorological Organisation, which uses several datasets including those from Copernicus, predicts "an overwhelming likelihood of above average temperatures across most land areas" in August-October.
