Key points
- Planet’s average surface temperature dipped below threshold of 1.5°C above preindustrial levels
- Nations across Europe have been hit by drought conditions in recent months: The Guardian
- Most of Mediterranean Sea was much warmer than average
PARIS, France: Global heating continued as the new norm, with last month the second warmest May on record on land and in the oceans, according to the European Union’s climate monitoring service.
AFP cited the Copernicus Climate Change Service as saying that the planet’s average surface temperature dipped below the threshold of 1.5 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels, just shy of the record for May set last year.
World’s oceans
The same held for the world’s oceans. With a surface temperature of 20.79°C, last month was second only to May 2024, with some unprecedented warmth regionally.
“Large areas in the northeast North Atlantic, which experienced a marine heatwave, had record surface temperatures for the month. Most of the Mediterranean Sea was much warmer than average,” AFP reported.
The increasingly dire state of the oceans is front-and-centre at the third UN Ocean Conference (UNOC), which kicked off Monday in Nice, France.
“Water shortages”
According to the UK-based newspaper, The Guardian countries across Europe, including the United Kingdom, have been hit by drought conditions in recent months, with water shortages feared unless significant rain comes this summer.
Dry weather has persisted in many parts of the world. In May 2025, much of northern and central Europe as well as southern regions of Russia, Ukraine, and Türkiye were drier than average. Parts of north-western Europe experienced the lowest precipitation and soil moisture levels since at least 1979, The Guardian reported.
