The average global temperature last month was warmer than any previous June on record, according to a new report.

It was the 13th consecutive month to be the warmest in the global records for the respective month of the year.

While such a streak of record temperatures is unusual it is not unprecedented.

Last week, Met Éireann said the average temperature for June in Ireland was 13.18C, making it the coldest June here since 2015.

The last time it occurred was eight years ago although temperatures then were lower, according to the latest monthly temperature data from the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The average surface air temperature for the world last month was 16.66C, which was 1.5C above the pre-industrial average temperature for the month of June.

It means that the key global temperature threshold of 1.5C of warming has now been reached or exceeded for 12 months in a row.

The record global temperatures of the past 12 months were heavily influenced by the El Niño

The monthly report stressed, however, that this does not mean the 1.5C warming limit - set in the Paris accord - has been breached.

That would require the threshold to be exceeded over a 20 to 30-year period rather than over a single 12-month period.

Copernicus Climate Change Service Director Carlo Buontempo said the record temperature of the past 13 months is more than a statistical oddity and it highlights a large and continuing shift in the climate.

"Even if this specific streak of extremes ends at some point, we are bound to see new records being broken as the climate continues to warm," Dr Buontempo said.

"This is inevitable, unless we stop adding greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and the oceans," he added.

The record global temperatures of the past 12 months were heavily influenced by the long tail effect of the naturally occurring El Niño warming event in the tropical Pacific Ocean that peaked very late last year.

On that front, the report implies global temperatures could now be on course to retreat from the record levels of recent months.

It noted that temperatures were below average over the eastern equatorial Pacific during June, indicating a developing La Niña cooling event, the opposite of the El Niño phenomenon.

Warmer seas cause an increase in evaporation and cloud formation

The monthly data also shows global sea surface temperatures during June averaged 20.85C, another record for the month of June.

This was the 15th month in a row that sea surface temperature has been at a record level for the respective month of the year.

Warmer seas cause an increase in evaporation and cloud formation, and increase the potential for heavy rainfall.

June was wetter than average over Iceland, central and most of southwestern Europe, with heavy precipitation leading to floods in regions of Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland.

However, the report notes that the month was drier than average over Ireland, most of the UK, Fennoscandia, southern Italy and much of eastern Europe, particularly around the Black Sea.