{"id":37245,"date":"2026-08-10T21:27:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37245"},"modified":"2026-08-10T21:27:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T16:27:41","slug":"eu-reports-record-heat-ocean-temperatures-in-july","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=37245","title":{"rendered":"EU reports record heat, ocean temperatures in July"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/ph\/st\/th\/1361786374874\/2026\/upi_com\/00f9684500d1d27978b2831c7b85adb9\/v1.5\/EU-reports-record-heat-ocean-temperatures-in-July.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>July delivered the highest ocean temperatures in recorded history and western Europe marked its hottest start to summer on record, the European Union said Monday. Photo by Amael Dubiez\/EPA<\/p>\n<div id=\"\">\n<p><span class=\"story_dl\">Aug. 10 (UPI) &#8212;<\/span> July delivered the highest ocean temperatures in recorded history, and western Europe marked its hottest start to summer on record, the European Union said Monday.<\/p>\n<p>The Copernicus Climate Change Service, the EU&#8217;s climate monitoring arm, said the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.com\/news\/articles\/cpvw8vmmgrwo\" target=\"_blank\">average sea surface temperature<\/a> outside of the polar regions was 20.96 degrees Celsius, or about 69.72 degree Fahrenheit, in July.\n<\/p>\n<p>The previous record average was 20.89 degrees Celsius, 69.02 degrees Fahrenheit, recorded in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>While the ocean warmed, the land also marked record highs in June and July. Western Europe&#8217;s hot and dry summer has been the hottest ever recorded.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/08\/10\/climate\/europe-heatwave-wildfire-intl-hnk\" target=\"_blank\">average temperature<\/a> in June and July was 21.62 degrees Celsius, or 70.9 degrees Fahrenheit. That is about 2.79 degrees above average. The previous record was set in 2022.<\/p>\n<p>Copernicus said surface soil moisture levels in July were also &#8220;significantly lower&#8221; than in July 2022. The dry conditions have lent to a broad heatwave across the region, setting the stage for a rash of wildfires.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Last month saw exceptional wildfire activity across western Europe, in terms of the area burnt and emissions,&#8221; Laurence Rouil, director of the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, said in a statement. &#8220;Climate change is increasingly bringing the kids of hot and dry conditions that favour large, high-intensity wildfires in southern Europe while extending the fire season northwards.&#8221;\n<\/p>\n<p>More than 25,000 heat-related deaths have been recorded across Europe.<\/p>\n<p>Europe is the fastest-warming continent in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, said in a statement that western Europe has experienced &#8220;exceptional heat&#8221; for three straight months.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Persistent high-pressure systems trapped heat over western Europe, the extreme temperatures also amplified drought,&#8221; she said. &#8220;As soils dry out, they lose their ability to provide natural cooling, allowing heat to build more readily. This is a clear example of how climate change is intensifying heat extremes, with heat and drought increasingly reinforcing one another.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>July delivered the highest ocean temperatures in recorded history and western Europe marked its hottest start to summer on record, the European Union said Monday. Photo by Amael Dubiez\/EPA Aug. 10 (UPI) &#8212; July delivered the highest ocean temperatures in recorded history, and western Europe marked its hottest start to summer on record, the European&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cdnph.upi.com\/sv\/ph\/og\/upi_com\/1361786374874\/2026\/1\/00f9684500d1d27978b2831c7b85adb9\/v1.5\/EU-reports-record-heat-ocean-temperatures-in-July.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}