Scientists said Argus seas hit their hottest July temperature on record in July 2026, while western Europe faced a long, dry heat spell that worsened wildfire conditions. Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts said the summer was “a clear example” of climate breakdown intensifying extremes.
The record covered the Atlantic coast and the western Mediterranean, where sea surface temperatures reached their highest July levels on record. Outside the cold polar regions, the globally averaged sea surface temperature was also the highest on record for July, beating the previous mark set in 2023.
Samantha Burgess on Western Europe
Burgess said, “[As] persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over western Europe, the extreme temperatures also amplified widespread drought”. She added, “As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily.” Western Europe’s first two summer months were 2.79C hotter than usual, and Copernicus said the heat reflected the exceptional persistence of heat since the season began.
Central Europe also saw a heatwave in which national temperature records fell in a handful of countries including Austria and Slovakia. Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over western Europe, and the extreme temperatures amplified widespread drought that had already intensified from the dryness observed in May and June.
Marta Mastropietro and drought costs
Marta Mastropietro, a researcher at CMCC and the Polytechnic University of Milan, led the study that put the drought cost from 2015-18 at €439bn. She said, “Even a single dry year causes real economic damage, but a persistent drought is di”. Early estimates for this summer put the June heat cost to grain farmers at €2bn in lost crops, and researchers said conventional methods substantially underestimate drought-related economic losses.
The dry spell also hit water and power systems. Low river flows affected water supply, irrigation and power plants in France, Spain, parts of Germany and the UK. Last week, two coal-fired power plants were forced to shut in Poland because of short cooling water, and Hungary’s sole nuclear power plant shut for the first time in its 44-year history.
For people in western Europe, the practical pressure now sits with water use, crop losses and energy supply as long as low rainfall and soil moisture continue to shape the season. Whether the current marine heat and drought conditions will continue beyond July 2026 was not answered in the source.
