‘We haven’t seen this’: June’s record-smashing temperatures — in data

June has been a record-breaking month for Earth. Key climate markers including global air and sea surface temperatures both surpassed previous records for the month (see ‘Temperature records broken’), and global sea ice was at an all-time low for June. Many regions experienced searing heat, with countries across the Arab world, southern Europe and Asia — including China and Japan — reaching record temperatures for the month.

In some places, the heat has had disastrous consequences, including destruction and pollution from unprecedented wildfires in Canada, and rising death tolls from a...