Copernicus Records Western Europe's Hottest June and July as Rivers Run Low

Western Europe recorded its hottest June and July on record, according to the European Union's Copernicus climate service, reported by Deutsche Welle. Drought now covers large parts of the continent, soils are unusually dry and major rivers are running low. A strengthening El Niño could raise global temperatures further later this year.

Euronews reported the same monitoring data alongside a second measurement: last month produced the highest average July sea surface temperature ever recorded across the extra-polar oceans, meaning the oceans outside the seasonal sea-ice zone.

The economic consequences are clearest on the Po, Italy's longest river and the water supply for the agricultural plain that produces much of the country's rice, maize and dairy feed. The Japan Times reported that the river's swings between flood and drought are pushing farmers to weigh switching to crops that need less water, while industry, agriculture and hydropower compete for a resource they previously treated as abundant.

Heat of this kind operates on European output through several channels at once. It reduces the cooling capacity of thermal and nuclear plants, limits barge loads on inland waterways, cuts labour productivity in construction and agriculture, and raises electricity demand at the moment supply is constrained.