Western Europe saw warmest June-July on record, EU scientists say

 Western Europe ⁠experienced its warmest June-July period on record, with ​heat and ​drought fuelling extreme wildfires across the region, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Monday.
'Climate change is increasingly bringing the kinds of hot and dry conditions ⁠that favour large, high-intensity wildfires in southern ⁠Europe while extending the fire season northwards,' Laurence Rouil, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said in ‌a statement.
Here are some ​more details ⁠from the report:
* Globally, July ​temperatures were 1.47 degrees ‌Celsius above the estimated pre-industrial 1850-1900 average, making it the second-warmest ​month on record.
* Average June-July temperature for western Europe reached 21.62 C - or 2.79 C above average - surpassing the previous 2022 record.
* Sea surface temperature ‌was the highest recorded for July across ​the extra-polar oceans, partly fuelled by developing ​El Niño ‌conditions ⁠in the equatorial Pacific.
* Exceptionally low rainfall and soil moisture led to much lower ​than average river levels in Europe, ⁠with the ​Seine, Rhine and Danube particularly impacted.
* Critically low levels at major waterways have prompted companies and households to curb electricity use ​as power plants shut down or lowered ​output while cargo traffic was increasingly restrained.