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According to new data released on August 1, 2019, by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) and the Copernicus Climate Change Programme, July may have been the hottest month in recorded history.
July 2019 temperatures were equal to, or surpassed, those recorded in July 2016, while the previous month was the hottest June on record with temperatures that climbed 2°C above normal. Paris experienced its hottest day on record on July 25 with a temperature of 42.6 °C, while new records were also set that day in Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK.
While temperatures recorded in July 2016 were attributed to the El Niño effect, this is not the case in 2019. WMO scientists link the recent European heatwave to human-caused global warming and predict that 2019 will be among the top five hottest years on record.