Remember that in May 2025, the majority of the globe was experiencing extreme dryness and abnormal warmth. All of this, according to a new report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Below-average precipitation in October 2023, across the central and eastern U.S. This stretched from North America, through the Horn of Africa, Central Asia, and down through southern Australia, southern Africa, and portions of South America.
May 2025 marks the highest global average surface air temperature recorded at 15.79 degrees Celsius. This extraordinary warmth in turn made it the second-warmest May on record. That temperature is 0.53 degrees Celsius above the average for May from 1991 to 2020. It is, indeed, 1.4 degrees Celsius above the estimated pre-industrial level based on an average from 1850 to 1900.
The C3S report painted an alarming picture of conditions in north-western Europe. That region experienced the lowest levels of precipitation and soil moisture since at least 1979. The north-eastern Atlantic recorded unprecedented high sea surface temperatures, hitting record levels first ever for May.
Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S, echoed the urgency in these stark terms.
“May 2025 breaks an unprecedentedly long sequence of months over 1.5C above pre-industrial. Whilst this may offer a brief respite for the planet, we do expect the 1.5C threshold to be exceeded again in the near future due to the continued warming of the climate system.” – Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S at the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF)
Over 21 of the past 22 months, the global average temperature has skyrocketed well over 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial norms. Climate scientists are deeply worried that these conditions may be partly contributing to long-term shifts to weather, climate, and ecosystems around the globe.
This dryness seen across May 2025 has major implications for agriculture and the water supply in both affected regions. Farmers in North America and southern Africa are already experiencing stresses on their crop yields from lack of rain. On top of this, communities in these places are at greater risk of drought-related harms.
With the persistence of these weather trends, experts from across sectors are sounding the alarm that climate change is no longer a future threat. The evidence suggests that extreme weather events, such as prolonged dry spells and elevated temperatures, are likely to become more common if current trends persist.