Western Europe sets new temperature record amid brutal heatwaves

The heatwaves roiling Western Europe this summer have broken an average temperature record for the June-July period set in 2022, according to the European climate agency Copernicus.The extreme heat began in May and has contributed to major wildfires, prolonged drought and new national temperature records across the region, as well as thousands of projected heat-related deaths.This is the third-hottest year globally, behind 2024 and 2025, climate statistics show. But 2026 still has time to catch up.Thanks to the one-two punch of accelerated human-caused global warming and a supersized El Niño, a periodic warming of parts of the Pacific that leads to temperature variations around the globe, there’s an increasing chance that by the end of the year, 2026 could become the hottest year on record