June 2019 officially the hottest month on record

June 2019 is the hottest month ever recorded, Copernicus, the European Union’s Earth observation programme, confirmed on Tuesday.

The agency published temperature data for June 2019 and the statistics confirm what many in Europe felt: This month is the hottest in Europe since weather records began, with temperatures up to 2ºC above average.

Over the last week — the warmest week of the hottest month — France, Switzerland, northern Spain, Italy, Austria, and the Czech Republic saw temperatures between 6C and 10C above average.

Although the 2019 heat wave has not lasted as long as that of 2018, it has been especially intense, Copernicus explained.

The previous European record for the month of June, which has now been topped, dates back to 1999.

The average global temperature was also the warmest ever recorded for the month of June, although it is just 0.1ºC higher than the previous record from the summer of 2016.

Compared with average June temperatures since 1880, last month was over than 3C higher than the average in Europe and more than 1C globally.

Although it is difficult to directly attribute this heat wave to climate change, these extreme weather events are expected to become more common as the planet continues to heat up due to the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases, Copernicus said in a statement.

BRT