2017 was second hottest year on record, after 2016 - European data

Children play at a fountain on a hot summer day in central Lviv, Ukraine, August 11, 2017. Picture taken August 11, 2017. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich

OSLO (Reuters) - Last year was the second hottest worldwide on record, just behind a sweltering 2016 with signs of climate change ranging from wildfires to a thaw of Arctic ice, a European Union monitoring centre said on Thursday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service, the first major international weather agency to report global 2017 temperatures, said they averaged 14.7 degrees Celsius (58.46°F) or 1.2C (2.2F) above pre-industrial times.