The summer of 2026 has been serving up weather that makes even the most stoic meteorologist reach for a cold drink. Central Europe is currently baking under record-breaking heat, with Wieselburg, Austria, registering a new July peak of 40.3C (104.5F) last week. That's just 0.2C shy of the all-time Austrian record set in August 2003, proving that if you're going to break records, you might as well do it with style.

Meanwhile, not everyone is getting the memo about extreme heat. Vancouver, Canada, recorded its wettest July since 2016 and the third wettest since 2008, with a grand total of 33.6mm of rain. That might not sound like a monsoon, but it's a touch above the 1991-2020 climate average, which says more about how parched the city has been in recent Julys than about any sudden deluge.

Over in the Pacific, Typhoon Dolphin is doing its best impression of a runaway freight train, barreling towards Japan and Taiwan. It became the fifth category 5 tropical cyclone of 2026 and ranks third for wind speed, trailing only behind typhoons Bavi and Sinlaku. Dolphin achieved maximum sustained winds of 175mph on Thursday, with a central pressure of 910mb. That's the kind of pressure that makes barometers weep.

What's particularly alarming is how quickly Dolphin intensified. On 27 July, it was just a tropical storm, but exceptionally warm sea temperatures of about 30C fueled its rapid transformation into a super typhoon over just 36 hours. Its unusually compact structure also helped, with hurricane-force winds extending only 52 miles from the center, compared to the typical 100-mile radius for a storm of this magnitude. It's like the storm decided to put all its energy into a small, devastating core.

As of Monday, Dolphin has been downgraded to a category 3 storm, with sustained winds of 125mph. It's now heading towards Okinawa, where it's forecast to weaken further and make landfall as a category 1 or 2 typhoon. But don't let the downgrade fool you - wind speeds of 80-100mph are still expected to hit the archipelago, which is more than enough to cause widespread damage and disruption. And while the storm's winds are decreasing, its wind field is forecast to expand, shifting the primary threat from destructive winds to storm surge. Because why not add flooding to the mix?