The average surface temperature of the world’s oceans outside the polar regions in July 2026 was the highest ever recorded for that month, surpassing the previous record set in 2023, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Against a backdrop of heatwaves and drought in Europe, river flows declined, power stations were shut down, and large-scale wildfires spread across the EU.
Briefly about the main points
- The world’s oceans, excluding the polar regions, have set a new temperature record for July.
- The Atlantic coast and the western Mediterranean have experienced severe marine heatwaves.
- The start of summer in Western Europe turned out to be the hottest on record.
- A shortage of cooling water has brought power stations in Poland and Hungary to a standstill.
- Since the start of the year, fires have engulfed around half a million hectares across the EU.
Record figures off the European coast
The Copernicus service has recorded record-high sea surface temperatures for July along the Atlantic coast and in the western Mediterranean. European seas have also experienced severe marine heatwaves.
The conditions at sea coincided with exceptional heat on land. Samantha Burgess, a climatologist at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, explained that persistent high-pressure systems had trapped heat over Western Europe, whilst exacerbating the widespread drought.
The heatwave on land set new records
The global average surface air temperature in July was just 0.01°C lower than in July 2024. Scientists therefore regard these two months as jointly the second-warmest Julys on record.
In Western Europe, June and July were the hottest on record. According to Copernicus, the first two months of summer were 2.79°C warmer than average and broke the previous record set four years ago.
A heatwave in Central Europe has led to national temperature records being broken, particularly in Austria and Slovakia. The particularly intense heat at the end of June is expected to have caused more than 10,000 deaths.
The water shortage has hit the energy sector and agriculture hard
The dry conditions observed in May and June intensified in July: exceptionally low levels of rainfall and soil moisture were recorded across much of Western Europe. Soil drying out This limits their natural ability to cool the air, which means the heat can build up more quickly, Burgess noted.
Low river flows in arid regions have affected water supply, irrigation and the operation of power stations, particularly in downstream countries. Last week, two coal-fired power stations in Poland and Hungary’s sole nuclear power station were shut down due to a lack of cooling water — the first time this has happened in its 44 years of operation.
Preliminary estimates suggest that the June heatwave cost grain producers €2 billion in lost harvests. The drought also dried out the vegetation, creating conditions conducive to the spread of fire.
Fires and damage caused by prolonged droughts
Since the start of the year in the European Union around 500,000 hectares were burnt, according to data from the European Forest Fire Information System. Smoke from the burning vegetation was accompanied by above-average levels of air pollution, whilst hot, dry and windy weather hampered firefighting efforts and led to record levels of fire severity for this time of year.
A working paper by the CMCC European Institute on Economics has estimated Europe’s losses from the 2015–2018 drought at €439 billion. The authors believe that traditional methods significantly underestimate such losses, as they do not take into account the cumulative effects over the years in manufacturing, construction and other sectors.
