Western Europe has lived through its hottest June-July period ever recorded, with the combined average temperature for those two months reaching 21.62°C — nearly three degrees above the long-term norm and surpassing the previous record set in 2022. The data, released on Monday by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European Union's global warming monitor, confirm what millions of people across the region have experienced firsthand: a relentless summer of successive heatwaves, severe drought and devastating wildfires that scientists say bears the clear fingerprint of climate change.

The scale of the drought has been particularly striking. Soil moisture levels in July 2026 were significantly lower than during the severe drought of July 2022, which was itself considered exceptional. Major rivers including the Seine in France, the Rhine flowing through Germany and the Netherlands, and the Danube in central and eastern Europe all recorded unusually low flows, disrupting transport, irrigation and energy production across multiple countries. France and Spain have battled what observers are calling their worst wildfires in living memory, and climate scientists warn that fire-prone weather conditions are becoming more frequent and spreading further north as temperatures rise.