Warmer May, drier planet
According to Copernicus, the May 2025 recorded an average temperature of 15,79 °C, just 0,12 °C below the record of May 2024. Still, it was 0,53°C warmer than the 1991-2020 average y 1,40 °C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900). This means that for the first time since August 2024, the planet crossed again the symbolic threshold of 1,5 °C that the international community had promised not to exceed. This limit is not symbolic, but structural.: Beyond this, the risks of collapse in vital systems such as the oceans, polar ice, tropical forests and the water cycle are increasing.
Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), warned that this is not a one-time anomaly, but rather a warning sign. “This respite is just that: a respite. The trconclude remains alarming,” he declared. With a planet that has already warmed 1,3°C since the Industrial Revolution, the United Nations predicts that The world is heading for a 3,1°C increase if drastic measures are not taken. In fact, according to the research group Berkley Earth, although the probability of 2025 being the hottest year on record has dropped to 8%, there is a 50% chance that it will be the second warmest.
Unprecedented drought in Europe
But the heat was not the only notable phenomenon in May: Northwest Europe suffered an exceptional droughtAccording to the monthly Copernicus climate bulletin, Soil moisture and rainfall were the lowest since at least 1979 in that region. Spring closed with the lowest river flow since records launched in 1992, affecting rivers that are key to agriculture, industest, and human consumption. This water shortage was not unique to Europe: Dry conditions were also reported in western North America, extratropical South America, the Horn of Africa, central Asia, China, and southern Australia..
Droughts have structural consequences: Agricultural yields decrease, forest fires increase, and water quality deteriorates. In addition, they contribute to the rising prices of basic foodstuffs and climate migrationIn cities, the effects are increasingly visible. A WaterAid study concluded that 44% of the world’s most populated urban centers are becoming drier, including Madrid, Barcelona, Paris and Berlin. Europe, historically considered a temperate and humid zone, is now facing increasing aridification..
The 1,5°C threshold is no longer safe
What were previously understood as “safety limits” for global warming, such as 1,5°C agreed in Paris in 2015, no longer guarantee climate stability. By crossing that threshold for the second time in less than a year, the planet is giving clear signals that The effects are not decades away, but are already manifestingThe connection between a warmer climate and the intensification of droughts, fires, heat waves, and storms is direct and well documented by science. What is worrying now is the frequency and simultaneity of these extreme phenomena.
Scientists warn of the possible activation of climate tipping points, such as the collapse of the Atlantic current or the irreversible melting of Greenland ice. These events, once triggered, cannot be reversed on human timescales. That’s why every tenth of a degree counts. Western Europe’s drought and May heat are no accidents, but rather the logical consequences of a climate system being pushed out of balance. And while scientific reports continue to accumulate, concrete actions remain insufficient in the face of the magnitude of the challenge.
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