This past Sunday’s global temperatures reached a new record of heat, but it only lasted for 24 hours, as Monday quickly broke that record for the world’s hottest day, according to the European Union’s climate monitor.
The global average surface air temperature on July 22 rose to 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.6 degrees Fahrenheit), or 0.06 degrees Celsius higher than the record set the day before, which was 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit), the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported on Wednesday.
Stretches of Asia, Europe, and North America, experienced scorching temperatures, with the some of the hottest being recorded in Gulf countries, exceeding 60C (140F) when factoring in humidity.
According to C3S, which has been tracking weather patterns since 1940, the record had last been set for four consecutive days in early July 2023. Before that, the world’s hottest recorded day was in August 2016. Yet, every month since June 2023 has eclipsed its own temperature record compared with the same month in previous years.
“What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,” said the Copernicus director, Carlo Buontempo, in a public statement. “We are now in truly uncharted territory – and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years.”
The two consecutive records of global heat occur as the impacts of climate change cause heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, intense storms, and floods across the world. They also follow a severe heatwave in Europe last year that led to extreme wildfires due to an El Niño weather pattern, which warms the Pacific Ocean.
While the end of the El Niño pattern usually relieves global heat, temperatures have continued to rise to blistering temperatures around the world. The rapid heating of the planet is expected to slow later this year, at least briefly, as the La Niña weather pattern is supposed to cool the Pacific Ocean. Yet, the pattern of global heating will persist as long fossil fuels are being burned and releasing gases into the atmosphere, experts report.
Roadmaps from the IPCC and International Energy Agency (IEA) show that steep cuts in demand for fossil fuels are needed to reach net zero emissions by 2050. A study published last year found that between 2020 and 2050, the supply of coal would have to fall by 99%, oil by 70%, and gas by 84%, to hit climate targets.
