July cooler than 2023 record but 'catastrophic' effects of climate change still evident, experts warn
A large wildfire on the island of Chios, Greece, in July. Picture: Pantelis Fykaris/Politischios.gr via AP
Last month was the third warmest July ever recorded, as experts said the recent streak of global temperature records being broken was “over, for now”.
However, the Copernicus Climate Change Service said climate change has certainly not eased despite the lack of records being broken, as July 2025 was just 0.27C cooler than the July 2023 record.
It comes after data from Met Éireann said July was the warmest month of 2025 so far and the hottest July since 2021.
“We continued to witness the effects of a warming world in events such as extreme heat and catastrophic floods in July,” said Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo.
“Unless we rapidly stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, we should expect not only new temperature records but also a worsening of these impacts — and we must prepare for that.”Â
Last month was 1.25C above the estimated pre-industrial level average temperature globally.Â
This was just the fourth month in the last 25 with a global temperature less than 1.5C above the pre-industrial level, which experts say is a crucial tipping point for the devastating effects of climate change.
Copernicus said rainfall was above average in many areas of Europe throughout June, including most of central Europe, northern France, the east of the UK and the south of Ireland.
On the other hand, it was drier than average in other areas such as Greece, the Balkans, the coasts of the Black Sea and southern France.
“Many regions experienced wildfires,” it said.
Record-high sea surface temperatures were meanwhile recorded in the North Atlantic to the east of France, along with parts of the North Sea.
July in Ireland was marked by an Azores high building across the country, according to Met Éireann.
“This culminated in a hot spell, where temperatures surpassed 27C on each day between Thursday 10 and Sunday 13,” it said.
The highest temperature of the year so far was recorded on July 12 in Mount Dillon in Roscommon, where the mercury reached 31.1C.
Temperatures became so warm in Cork that a road at Lower Goggins Hill, between Ballinhassig and Crossbarry, melted in early July.
“Continuing the recent warmer-than-normal monthly trend, this is the fifth consecutive month with temperatures in the respective top nine averages on record in 126 years of records,” Met Éireann said.
“Of the top 10 warmest Julys, five have occurred since 2001 — 2013, 2006, 2021, 2025, 2018.”
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