Beijing, July 10 (Xinhua) -- The UK Met Office announced on the 9th that 8 days in 2026 will have temperatures exceeding 34 degrees Celsius, breaking the previous record of 7 days of high temperatures throughout the year. The EU climate monitoring agency released a report on the same day confirming that Western Europe has just experienced its hottest June on record.

The UK Met Office announced on social media that a temperature of 34.4 degrees Celsius was recorded in the Wesley area of Surrey, southern England on the 9th, bringing the number of days with a temperature of 34 degrees Celsius or above to 8 this year, breaking the 7-day record set in 2020 and 1976.

On May 25th, in Hyde Park, London, people were seeking shade from the trees to escape the heat. Photo by Yu Aicen, Xinhua News Agency reporter

This year, England experienced the hottest June on record since 1884, with heatwaves disrupting traffic, schools, and medical institutions. The UK Met Office stated that although the current humidity is lower than in June, high temperatures may still cause health problems and infrastructure failures. The UK Met Office has warned that the waters of the North Sea are experiencing a 'oceanic heatwave', with surface water temperatures reaching 18 degrees Celsius.

According to data from the European Union's climate monitoring agency, the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the average temperature in Western Europe in June was 20.74 degrees Celsius, 3.05 degrees Celsius higher than the June average temperature from 1991 to 2020, making it the hottest June on record.

Scientists point out that human caused climate change is making extreme weather events such as heat waves more frequent and intense. According to data from the World Meteorological Organization, greenhouse gas emissions have caused the global average temperature to rise by about 1.4 degrees Celsius compared to pre industrial levels in the 19th century.

Editor: Wu Zhengsi

(Author Xinhua Finance)