London: North-western Europe is experiencing severe dryness following an exceptionally dry spring, while May 2025 has been confirmed as the second warmest May ever recorded globally, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
The situation has sparked concerns about impending water shortages and rising instances of crop failures unless substantial rainfall occurs over the summer.
New data from Copernicus indicates that the average global surface air temperature in May 2025 was 15.79°C, which is 0.53°C above the 1991–2020 average for May, and 1.4°C higher than the estimated 1850–1900 pre-industrial average.
This data point interrupts an unprecedented streak of 21 months out of the past 22 in which the planet’s average temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Carlo Buontempo, Director of C3S at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), noted that while May marked a brief dip below the 1.5°C threshold, the overall trajectory of climate warming continues.
“May 2025 breaks an unprecedentedly long sequence of months over 1.5°C above pre-industrial. Whilst this may offer a brief respite for the planet, we do expect the 1.5°C threshold to be exceeded again in the near future due to the continued warming of the climate system,” Buontempo stated.
The 1.5°C limit is the benchmark climate target established in the 2015 Paris Agreement, aimed at averting the worst impacts of global warming.
While the threshold is assessed based on average temperatures over several decades, repeated and prolonged breaches in individual years are an alarming sign of an intensifying climate crisis. Every year in the past decade has ranked among the 10 hottest years on record, based on data tracing back to 1850.
The impacts of May’s heat have been far-reaching. Northern and central Europe, southern regions of Russia, Ukraine, and Türkiye experienced below-average precipitation, with north-western Europe facing the lowest rainfall and soil moisture levels since at least 1979.
Beyond Europe, similar dry conditions were observed in much of North America, the Horn of Africa, Central Asia, southern Australia, and large areas of southern Africa and South America.
May 2025 also saw abnormally high sea surface temperatures in the Northeastern Atlantic, which, according to Copernicus, reached the highest levels ever recorded, further emphasizing the persistent warming trend and its global implications.
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