Europe logs hottest June on record as heatwaves drive deaths and wildfires

Western Europe logged its hottest June on record, with an average temperature of 20.74C, more than 3C above the 1991-2020 norm and nearly 5.5C above average in some parts of the region. The Copernicus Climate Change Service bulletin ranked June 2026 among the most extreme months ever measured, with heatwaves driving deaths, fires and drought across much of the continent.

The previous Western Europe June record had been set only a year earlier, in June 2025. The bulletin ranked June 2026 as the second-hottest June ever recorded globally and the second-warmest June for Europe as a whole, while the world’s oceans recorded their highest June sea-surface temperatures on record.

The heat arrived after an unusually early and intense blast in late May, leaving Western Europe with three severe heatwaves in as many months. Persistent high-pressure systems, or heat domes, trapped warm air over the region and pushed temperatures above 40C in several countries, with parts of Spain and Portugal reaching 46C. Another heatwave was already affecting Spain and Portugal as the month ended.

National authorities recorded more than 4,700 excess deaths in France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands during the June heatwave, and the same extreme temperatures helped fuel wildfires in Iberia and France while worsening already difficult drought conditions.

Samantha Burgess, Copernicus strategic climate lead: “Heatwaves will become more intense, last longer and affect more areas in a warmer world.” Copernicus defines Western Europe as stretching from Spain and the United Kingdom eastward to Italy, Germany and part of Austria; its temperature records go back to 1940 and are cross-checked against global records dating to 1850.