July ended the recent streak of record global temperatures, ranking as the world’s third hottest July on record. However, extreme weather events amplified by global warming devastated many regions last month, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported.
Torrential rains flooded Pakistan and northern China, while Canada, Scotland, and Greece battled intense wildfires fueled by persistent drought. Multiple Asian and Scandinavian nations recorded new monthly average highs.
“Two years after the hottest July ever, the recent series of global temperature records has ended,” stated Carlo Buontempo, Director of Copernicus. “But this doesn’t mean climate change has stopped. We continue to observe the effects of a warming world.”
Like June, July showed a slight dip compared to the previous two years, averaging 1.25°C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900). Both 2023 and 2024 had exceeded the critical 1.5°C Paris Agreement threshold. This seemingly modest rise has intensified storms, heatwaves, and other extreme events. “We kept observing the effects of global warming in July through extreme heatwaves and catastrophic floods,” Buontempo noted.
Last month saw temperatures surpass 50°C in the Gulf, Iraq, and for the first time in Turkey. Meanwhile, catastrophic floods killed hundreds in China and Pakistan. Spain’s public health institute attributed over 1,000 deaths to July’s heat—half the toll from the same period in 2024. The primary driver of rising temperatures remains fossil fuel combustion. “Unless we rapidly stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, we should expect not just new temperature records but worsening impacts,” Buontempo warned.
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