This June was the hottest June ever recorded worldwide. The average temperature on Earth last month was 16.66 degrees, according to figures from the European Climate Service Copernicus.

It’s the 13th consecutive month of record-breaking temperatures. Copernicus describes it as more than just a statistical anomaly, but rather a major and ongoing shift in our climate. The climate service was particularly struck by the sheer size of the margins in the records.

The average June temperature was 1.5 degrees higher than the average June from 1850 to 1900, the period before the rise of global industrialization. For climate experts, that period is the benchmark for keeping the increase in the Earth’s average temperature below 1.5 degrees, the limit agreed at the 2015 Paris climate summit.

“The fact that all of those months are more than 1.5 degrees warmer doesn’t mean we’ve reached that limit,” says KNMI climate scientist Bart Verheijen. “That limit is above the long-term average. But we’re getting very close.”

If we look at the long-term trend, temperatures are now 1.3 degrees warmer than they were at the end of the 19th century. Verheij: “The concentration of greenhouse gases is still increasing, so the warming will continue. And this will only end when we stop emitting carbon dioxide.”

High temperatures could make 2024 warmer than 2023, which was the warmest year on record worldwide.

Temperatures in Western Europe were around average. However, the weather was particularly wet in Germany, Switzerland, France, Italy and elsewhere. Heavy rains led to flooding there.

In Europe, it was particularly warm in Turkey and the Balkans in June. Elsewhere in the world, temperatures including eastern Canada, the western United States, Brazil, Siberia and much of Africa were warmer than average.

According to Copernicus, the sea surface was also warm at 20.85 degrees. This is also the highest temperature ever measured for the month of June.