The Planet Cooled In June

For all the media’s huffing and puffing over western Europe’s “climate-change heatwave,” the planet cooled in June.

UAH’s satellite-based lower troposphere record has June 2026 at +0.46C above the norm, down from +0.53C in May — a clear monthly fall all while headlines tried to turn one regional European hot spell into proof of a planetary catastrophe.

According to a World Weather Attribution report — and dutifully recycled by the usual activist rags — western Europe’s recent heatwave was “impossible without the climate crisis.”

Reuters led with the same line, adding that the “soaring night-time temperatures” were made 100 times more likely. The Guardian went further, calling it the “worst ever and impossible without climate crisis,” and claiming the heat was “only possible because of fossil-fuel burning.” Euronews warned that “climate change is running rampant,” while El País spelled out the sermon in its headline: “It’s not just hot, it’s climate change.” Etc. Etc. Etc.

The European heat was real. But it was weather. It was circulation. That is what blocking highs do.

Overall, the planet cooled 0.07C in June.

Europe Maps The Heat Island

The European Commission itself just posted this map:

During last week’s heatwave, says the Commission, Copernicus satellites recorded a land-surface temperature gap of about 23C between urban areas and nearby forests. In Belgium, sealed surfaces around Brussels reached 47.4C (117.3F) while the adjacent Sonian Forest sat near 24.5C (76.1F).

The EU Commission has just discovered the Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect: replacing vegetation with asphalt, concrete, rooftops, car parks, airport tarmac, bare ground warm the surface sharply.

Many long-running stations sit at airports, town edges, and sites gradually swallowed over time by development.

Soon et al. showed the split clearly. Using rural and urban Northern Hemisphere stations together produced a warming trend of 0.89C per century from 1850–2018. Rural stations alone produced 0.55C per century.

The station-bin graphics (below), courtesy of Orwell, point to the same problem: the more urbanized the station setting, the stronger the warming curve. The cleanest rural sites warm less. The aggregated curve tracks the contaminated network.

The Commission’s answer isn’t to address poor station siting, it is “to plant 3 billion trees by 2030 and promote sustainable living through the European Bauhaus.”

Europe’s red heat maps show the UHI effect, not cLiMaTe ChAnGe.

Hokkaido Joins The July Chill

Japan’s cold start to July did not stop with Iwate.

By July 3, it had pushed north into Hokkaido, where official JMA readings fell into the low single digits. Numakawa dropped to 5.3C (41.5F), Nosappu to 6.3C (43.3F), Koetoi to 6.4C (43.5F), Kamishihoro to 6.7C (44.1F), and Nemuro to 6.9C (44.4F).

Motodomari, on Rishiri Island, fell to 7C (44.6F) at 3:30 AM Friday, breaking its July low-minimum record of 7.3C (45.1F) set in 2015 — 5.6C below normal for the date.

Daytime warmth was muted too. Shibetsu reached only 12.7C (54.9F), Sakatamachi 13.4C, Nemuro 13.5C, and Chippomanai 14C keeping large parts of eastern and northern Hokkaido in a raw early-season feel rather than full July.

Farther south, Tokyo was hardly blazing. On July 2, the capital reached just 22.7C (72.9F), with rain, drizzle, and zero sunshine logged by JMA.

Japan’s official seasonal outlook still points hot overall. But the opening days of July have offered the opposite.

Rare Coastal Snow As South America Freezes

Antarctic air has surged deep into South America.

Argentina‘s SMN reported 31 cities below 0C as the polar outbreak spread north and east.

Maquinchao, in Río Negro, fell to -14.2C (6.4F) on July 2. Esquel dropped to -8.4C (16.9F), with a wind chill of -15.1C (4.8F). El Bolsón hit -8C (17.6F), Neuquén -7.8C, Uspallata -7.2C, Perito Moreno -7C, Puerto Madryn -6.9C, Cipolletti -6.8C, Victorica -6.1C, and Trelew -5.6C.

Rare snow even reached Buenos Aires Province.

In Mar del Plata, on Argentina’s Atlantic coast, flakes and sleet were reported as the cold pushed all the way to sea level. Local history shows how rare that is. The city’s documented snowfalls are 1910, 1918, 1975, 1991, 2004, and now 2026.

Chile was hit too.

The Dirección Meteorológica de Chile logged -10.3C (13.5F) in Balmaceda, -5.6C (21.9F) at Valdivia/Pichoy, and -4.4C (24.1F) at Chillán, to name just three. Farther south, Coyhaique/Teniente Vidal fell to -7.6C (18.3F) and managed a daytime high of just 1.4C (34.5F).

Brazil was next.

INMET warned that a cold front and polar air would drive frost across the south, with readings of -5C to -8C (23F to 17.6F in Rio Grande do Sul and the Santa Catarina highlands. The chill even pushed north into Rondônia, Acre and southwest Amazonas.

Uruguay and Paraguay have been pulled into the same setup.

Updates to follow.

Thank you for your continued support.

Enjoy your weekend.

I’ll be back Monday, as always.

Best,
Cap