Worldwide, July 2021 was, together with the same month of 2020, the third hottest July on record, slightly cooler (less than 0.1 degrees Celsius) than July 2019 and 2016.

Last month was “considerably warmer” than average in most of northern and eastern Europe. The overall temperature was well above the 1991-2020 average in the Baltic Sea region.

Helsinki (Finland's capital) had the second hottest July after 2010. Northern Ireland set the historic record for maximum daily temperature and temperatures were also well above average in eastern Iceland and parts of Greenland.

On the contrary, the month was slightly cooler than the 1991-2020 average in the area that runs from Portugal to Germany and in parts of northwestern Russia.

At the same time, much higher than average rainfall was recorded in the same month in western parts of central Europe, indicates the monthly climate bulletin published on 5 August by the Copernicus Climate Change Monitoring Service (C3S), of the European Union

The eastern zone had, on the contrary, “predominantly dry conditions”, according to the document.

In the Arctic, the extent of sea ice was the second smallest in July. But the extent of Antarctic sea ice was above the overall average.