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Hot July: In some places the temperature was over 40 degrees
Photo: Jens Büttner / dpa
Last July, with its extreme heat waves, was one of the warmest on record anywhere in the world.
The month was only slightly cooler than July 2019 and marginally warmer than July 2016, said the EU climate service Copernicus.
The average temperature worldwide was almost 0.4 degrees above the period 1991 to 2020, which the service uses as a reference period.
Also, July was significantly drier than average across much of Europe, leading to droughts in the south-west and south-east.
It was also drier than usual in South America, Central Asia and Australia.
The Copernicus records go back to 1979.
The climate service also uses data from ground stations, balloons, airplanes and satellites going back to 1950.
low in sea ice
"Heat waves pose a serious health risk and at the same time can increase the intensity and longevity of many other catastrophic climate events - such as wildfires and droughts," said lead Copernicus researcher Freja Vamborg, according to a statement.
Heat waves would bring enormous risks and damage to agriculture, logistics and energy production.
The long heat wave, which first caused temperatures of more than 40 degrees in Portugal and Spain, but then also in France, Great Britain and Germany, led to a number of new record temperatures in many places.
On July 20th, the highest temperature values since weather records began were measured in about six German federal states.
Hamburg cracked the 40 degree mark for the first time.
According to the Copernicus service, southwestern Europe experienced its warmest July since records began in terms of maximum temperatures.
Striking climate data was also recorded in Antarctica, where it is currently winter.
The extent of the sea ice there was seven percent below average in July - the lowest level since records began 44 years ago.
jme/dpa
