Summer 2024 was hottest since records began, says EU's climate change monitoring service

Volunteers try to extinguish a wildfire in northern Athens last month. In Europe, the average temperature for August 2024 was 1.57°C above the 1991-2020 average for that month, making it the second-warmest August on record, just behind the all-time record for August set in 2022. Photo: AP/Aggelos Barai

The planet experienced it warmest-ever ever summer on average, making it likely this year will end up being the warmest since records began. 

The new data comes just days after it was confirmed that summer 2024 was Ireland's coldest since 2015.