Doha: The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service announced on Thursday that last month was the third hottest July on record globally, with a slight drop from the unprecedented heat levels seen over the past two years.
According to Qatar News Agency, the global average surface air temperature in July 2025 reached 16.68 degrees-C, which is 0.27 degrees-C lower than July 2023 - the hottest month ever recorded - and 0.23 degrees-C lower than July 2024. Despite the slight decrease, temperatures remained 1.25 degrees-C above the estimated pre-industrial average (1850-1900).
Heatwaves stretched across continents. In Europe, the average land temperature for July was 21.12 degrees-C, making it the fourth hottest July on record for the continent since measurements began. The report noted that Northern Europe experienced some of the most extreme conditions. The Fennoscandia region - comprising Norway, Sweden, and Finland - saw temperatures well above the European average, with Sweden and Finland hit particularly hard by intense heatwaves. Meanwhile, Southeastern European countries faced both heatwaves and wildfires.
In contrast, below-average temperatures were recorded in parts of North and South America, India, most of Australia, and some areas of Africa and Antarctica. Copernicus also reported that sea ice extent remained well below average in both polar regions. Arctic sea ice was 10 percent below the norm, marking the second-lowest July level in 47 years of satellite records. In the Antarctic, sea ice was 8 percent below average, the third lowest for the month.
Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Carlo Buontempo, stated that after two consecutive record-breaking Julys, the streak of global temperature records has come to an end, however this doesn't mean climate change is slowing down. He stressed that the world is still feeling the impacts of a warming climate, including severe heatwaves and devastating floods, and called for increased preparedness. Buontempo warned that without rapid stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, new temperature records and worsening climate impacts should be expected.