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3mo ago

May Records Second-Warmest Global Temperatures as Arctic Heatwave Intensifies Ice Melt

Human-driven warming pushed global air temperatures to 1.4°C above preindustrial levels, fueling an Arctic heatwave that supercharged Greenland melting

FILE - People climb to the top of what once was the Okjokull glacier, in Iceland, Aug. 18, 2019. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)
A man sits on a tangle of branches in the Sacramento River while staying cool during a heat wave in Sacramento, California, U.S. May 30, 2025. REUTERS/Fred Greaves/File Photo
Image
Smoke rises from the Hubert Lake wildfire WWF023, which forced the evacuation of the Hubert Lake Provincial Park area west of Fawcett, Alberta, Canada in an aerial photograph May 29, 2025. Alberta Wildfire/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo

Overview

  • Copernicus data show May 2025 averaged 15.79°C—0.53°C above the 1991–2020 norm—making it the planet’s second-hottest May on record
  • Last month’s global surface temperature stood 1.4°C above the 1850–1900 baseline, interrupting but unlikely ending a 21-of-22-month streak above 1.5°C
  • A World Weather Attribution study found climate change amplified the May heatwave in Iceland and Greenland by roughly 3°C compared with preindustrial conditions
  • Greenland’s ice sheet melted 17 times faster than average during the heatwave, raising risks of slowing the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation and altering weather patterns
  • Parts of Europe endured the driest spring since at least 1979 and the global sea surface temperature hit 20.79°C, second only to May 2024