June 2026 was the hottest June ever recorded in Western Europe and the second warmest globally and across Europe as a whole, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.
The findings come as much of Europe faces another spell of extreme heat, underscoring the continent's growing vulnerability to climate change.
The average temperature in Western Europe reached 20.74C in June, around 3C above the 1991-2020 average for the month, according to Copernicus' latest monthly climate bulletin. The figure surpassed the previous June record, which had been set only a year earlier, in 2025.
Samantha Burgess, strategic lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which operates the Copernicus service, said climate change is increasingly being felt in everyday life.
“Climate change is moving from being a future, abstract and statistical problem described in reports to a tangible reality that is disrupting daily life,” Burgess told AFP.
She noted that Europe is warming significantly faster than the global average, partly because of changes in atmospheric circulation patterns.
According to Burgess, these changes suggest that heatwaves will become increasingly common across Europe in the future.
“We will see more heatwaves in a warmer world,” she said. “They will be more intense, last longer and affect larger geographical areas.”
She also stressed the need to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as quickly as possible.
Globally, temperatures in June were 1.39C above the estimated pre-industrial average recorded between 1850 and 1900.
Copernicus said June 2026 ranked as the second warmest June ever recorded worldwide, as well as the second warmest across Europe as a whole, highlighting the continued impact of human-driven climate change and global warming.
Source: AFP
