The past month of June saw record-high temperatures, as some areas hit over 120 degrees, making it the hottest June on record.
Temperatures in North America were just over 2 degrees Fahrenheit higher than the month’s average calculated from 1991 until 2020, according to metrics released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service on Wednesday. Throughout the month, Death Valley, California, hit 124 degrees, and Billings, Montana, reached 108 degrees, shattering its previous record by 10 degrees.
“For North America, record-breaking heatwave conditions were centered initially over the southwestern USA and then over the northwestern USA and south western Canada. The all-time record for daily-maximum temperature in Canada was broken three days in a row in British Columbia,” the report said.
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Only small pockets of the southeastern United States, central Mexico, and northern central Canada recorded temperatures at or below the respective averages for their regions.
The continent’s previous warmest June on record was in 2012, which saw temperatures about 1.9 degrees higher than the same average.
On July 1, Oregon was forced to declare a state of emergency due to wildfires that began the previous month, one of which spanned 10,000 acres. Overall, more than 1.6 million acres of forest nationwide have burned since the beginning of the season, according to the National Fire Service.
From June 25 until June 28, British Columbia saw 223 deaths amid a heatwave, almost 100 more than the average for a four-day period. Coupled with the deaths that occurred between June 29 and July 1, the toll reached 486.
Further south, a streetcar service in Portland, Oregon, shut down temporarily due to a cable that reportedly broke due to the heat. Reports of asphalt roads cracking from the heat also surfaced.
In the central and western U.S., which experienced higher-than-average temperatures, states saw drier soil and less precipitation than usual, according to the service’s accompanying hydrological report.
June’s heatwave was not only limited to North America. The month was the second-warmest June on record for the continent of Europe, with temperatures especially high in the Nordic states of Sweden and Norway. Those areas, however, generally experienced average or slightly above-average rainfall for the month.
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The vast majority of Antarctica, however, aside from the western portion of the landmass, experienced temperatures well below average.
