According to the European Union’s climate change monitoring service, Western Europe experienced the hottest June and July on record. The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported on Monday that the average temperature in the region for these two months was 21.62 °C (70.9 °F).
This figure is 2.79 °C (5.01 °F) above the long-term average and the previous record set in 2022. Several rivers, including the Seine, Rhine, and Danube, have dropped to extremely low levels. This has affected water supply and irrigation, and forced Hungary and Slovenia to reduce the capacity of their only nuclear power plants.
Record droughts and massive fires
France and Spain also recorded record drought levels, leading to massive forest fires. At the end of July, a large fire burned nearly 42,000 hectares of land and forced the evacuation of more than 220,000 people in the Gironde department in southwestern France.
Meanwhile, the largest forest fire in modern Spain‘s history covered nearly 44,000 hectares in the province of Avila near Madrid. The report also notes that massive fires can lift smoke high into the atmosphere, allowing it to travel thousands of kilometers and worsen air quality in other countries.
C3S also reported that in July, outside the polar regions, the highest sea surface temperature on record was recorded. The average sea surface temperature was 20.96 °C (69.7 °F), slightly higher than the previous record of 20.89 °C (69.6 °F), set in 2023.
Source: Al Jazeera
