It’s Official – Copernicus: Western Europe records its hottest June after searing heatwave

It was also the second hottest June ever for the planet as a whole. The Copernicus Climate Change Service’s report for the month is here.

A summary from France24’s report:

The EU’s climate monitor said Thursday that Western Europe this year experienced its hottest month of June on record as an intense heatwave swept across the world’s fastest-warming continent. A “heat dome” weather effect – a high-pressure system acting like a lid on a boiling pot – led to all-time and monthly temperature records in several countries.

The report comes as a new heatwave is battering Europe this week, following a record-breaking one in June and an unusually early spring hot spell in May.

The average temperature in western Europe reached 20.74C in June, more than 3C above the 1991-2020 norm, according to the European Union‘s Copernicus Climate Change Service. It broke the region’s previous record set in June 2025.

“We will see more heatwaves in a warmer world,” said Samantha Burgess, strategic climate lead at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), which operates Copernicus.

“They will be more intense and they will last longer, and they will impact more geographical areas,” Burgess told AFP.

More links:

• World Meteorological Organisation: Western Europe has hottest June on record
• Yale Climate Connections: June 2026: Earth’s 2nd-hottest June on record
• Guardian: Western Europe records hottest-ever June as heatwaves intensify