Met Office Chief Forecaster Andy Page said: “This exceptional heat has been unprecedented for June and is another marker on how climate change is shifting the dial on temperature extremes in the UK.”
Meanwhile several other European countries also experienced their hottest-ever days in June, including France (43.8°C), Spain (42.7°C), Germany (41.7°C), Hungary (40.7°C), Austria (40.0°C), Poland (40.5°C), Czech Republic (41.1°C), Switzerland (39.0°C), the Netherlands (39.4°C) and Denmark (37.0°C).
Record winter heat has also been reported in the Antarctic where temperatures reached above 15°C in June, shattering the previous record. The new winter peak temperature was logged by the Argentinian Esperanza base on the Trinity peninsula on 6 June amid a protracted heatwave, when the maximum daily temperature exceeded zero degrees for three consecutive weeks.
“This is absolutely crazy,” said Raúl Cordero, an Ecuadorian climate professor at the University of Groningen (reported in The Guardian). “It is also about 20°C above normal for this time of the year. That is a huge anomaly.”
Scientists are concerned that some of the region’s biggest glaciers, such as Thwaites and Pine Island, are approaching or may even have passed a tipping point that could significantly raise global sea levels. Antarctic ice melt has also been found to slow global ocean circulation.