Copernicus

Floods have been tearing a path of destruction across the globe, hammering Kenya, submerging Dubai, and forcing hundreds of thousands of people from Russia to China, Brazil and Somalia from their homes.

Europe is increasingly facing bouts of heat so intense that the human body cannot cope, as climate change continues to raise temperatures, the EU's Copernicus climate monitoring service and the World Meteorological Organization said on Monday.

An "exceptional" dust cloud from the Sahara is choking parts of Europe, the continent's climate monitor said yesterday, causing poor air quality and coating windows and cars in grime.

Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service said the latest plume, the third of its kind in recent weeks, was bringing hazy conditions to southern Europe and would sweep northward as far as Scandinavia.

Earth has endured 12 months of temperatures 1.5C hotter than the pre-industrial era for the first time on record, Europe's climate monitor said Thursday, in what scientists called a "warning to humanity".

The Evros wildfire, now in its 11th day, has destroyed an area larger than New York City, the European Union-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service has said.

July was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth, the European Union's climate observatory confirmed Tuesday.

Marked by heatwaves and fires all around the world, the previous month was 0.33 degrees Celsius higher than the record set in July 2019 when the average temperature was 16.63C (32 Fahrenheit), it said.

Copernicus, the EU's Earth observation program, has been activated for the immediate mapping of the areas in Eastern Attica, Western Attica, Viotia and Corinth (Loutraki) that has been burned in wildfires since Monday.

The world saw its hottest June on record last month, the EU's climate monitoring service said yesterday, as climate change and the El Nino weather pattern looked likely to drive another scorching northern summer.

This past June was the hottest June globally on record in terms of sea and air temperatures, according to a statement by the EU-backed Copernicus Climate Change Service.

"The month was the warmest June globally at just over 0.5°C above the 1991-2020 average, exceeding June 2019 - the previous record - by a substantial margin," the Copernicus report said.

Europe experienced its second-warmest year on record in 2022, European Union scientists said on Tuesday, as climate change unleashed record-breaking weather extremes that slashed crop yields, dried up rivers and led to thousands of deaths.