World’s seas hit hottest July on record, scientists say

Copernicus climate service reports that global average sea surface temperature outside the polar regions reached a record high for July 2026, surpassing the previous July peak set in 2023. Sea surface temperatures hit July records along the Atlantic coast and in the western Mediterranean, with severe marine heatwaves affecting European waters. Surface air temperatures in July 2026 were 0.01C cooler than July 2024, making the two months effectively tied as the second-warmest Julys on record. Western Europe experienced its hottest June and July on record, with the first two months of summer 2.79C above typical values and national temperature records falling in countries including Austria and Slovakia. Persistent high-pressure systems produced exceptional heat and drought that dried soils, lowered river flows, and forced two coal-fired power plants in Poland and Hungary’s sole nuclear plant to shut temporarily because of cooling-water shortages. Early estimates attribute about €2bn in lost grain output to June heat, and a working paper from the CMCC European Institute on Economics notes the 2015, 18 European mega-drought cost €439bn, underscoring risks of longer-term economic damage if droughts persist. Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts said the season shows how climate-driven extremes can intensify each other, amplifying heat and drought impacts.