May Was Second Warmest on Record Globally, Copernicus Reports

The past month of May was the second warmest ever recorded globally, extending a period of exceptional heat. The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported that the global average surface air temperature reached 15.81°C, which is 0.55°C higher than the 1990-2020 average and a significant 1.42°C above the pre-industrial 1850-1900 baseline.

Samantha Burgess, Head of Climate Strategy at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, noted that May 2026 marked the second warmest May globally, prolonging exceptional heat in both the atmosphere and oceans. "In Europe, an unusually early and intense heatwave demonstrates the rapidity with which extreme weather events are becoming the new normal," she added.

For Europe, the period from March to May constituted the third-hottest spring on record. The Copernicus bulletin indicated a shift in European temperatures, with warmer-than-average conditions emerging after May 20th. Large parts of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe, along with Italy and southern Spain, experienced drier-than-average conditions due to high pressure and extreme temperatures.

Conversely, other areas like parts of Spain, Scandinavia, Iceland, peninsular Italy, and western Russia saw wetter-than-usual conditions. However, for most of Europe, spring was drier than the average precipitation. Outside Europe, regions with above-average rainfall in May 2026 included North America, parts of Asia, Brazil, southern Africa, and Australia. Drier conditions were noted in the central United States, Central Asia, Madagascar, southwestern Australia, and parts of South America.

Ocean temperatures also reflected the warming trend, with May's sea surface temperature being the second highest on record for the month, reaching 20.90°C, just shy of the 2024 record. Exceptionally high sea surface temperatures persisted in much of the tropical Pacific as the region transitions towards El Niño conditions, predicted for the coming months.