June was Europe's hottest ever, EU satellite agency says

Last month was the hottest June ever recorded, the European Union's satellite agency said Tuesday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) program revealed the continent's average temperature for the month was 2 degrees Celsius hotter than normal.

"Although this was exceptional, we are likely to see more of these events in the future due to climate change," C3S head Jean-Noel Thepaut said.

Germany experienced temperatures as high as 38.9 degrees Celsius (102 degrees Fahrenheit), an all-time high for June.

More heat waves, humans responsible

In a separate study also published Tuesday, a group of experts who look at the possible link between extreme weather and climate change foresee more frequent and more intense heat waves in future.

After analyzing temperatures in Toulouse in southern France between June 26 and 28, the World Weather Attribution group concluded that every heat wave in Europe today "is made more likely and more intense by human-induced climate change."

Friederike Otto, acting director of the Environmental Change Institute at Oxford University, said global warming probably amplified the hot spell in France by more than five times.

"Models are very good at representing large-scale seasonal changes in temperatures," she explained. "On localized scales, climate models tend to underestimate the increase in temperature."

Their report is yet to be peer-reviewed.

There seemed to be some respite for western and central Europe as the heat headed east on Tuesday with the Balkans region experiencing scorching temperatures.

jsi/se (AP, AFP, dpa)

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