Key points
- The daily global average temperature has reached a new all-time high.
- Scientists say temperatures observed over the past 13 months are markedly different from previous records.
- This comes as heat waves hit much of the United States, Europe and Russia.
The hottest day on record globally was July 21, according to preliminary data published by the European Union’s climate monitor.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said the global average surface air temperature of 17.09C on Sunday was the warmest in their records, which date back to 1940.
It comes as heatwaves and wildfires devastate swaths of Europe and the United States.
“The Earth just experienced its warmest day,” the monitor said in a statement.
The new daily high was 0.01°C above the previous record temperature of 17.08 recorded on July 6, 2023.
“On July 21, C3S recorded a new record for the daily global average temperature,” C3S director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement.
“We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate continues to warm, we are set to see new records broken in the coming months and years,” he said.
While this is a slight increase from the previous record, what was “really disconcerting” was the unprecedented run of global heat recorded over the past 13 months, Buontempo added.
Every month since June 2023 has eclipsed its temperature record compared to the same month in previous years.
Copernicus said in this context, and at the height of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, that it was not “entirely unexpected” for this new daily high to be surpassed.
It may be eclipsed by the scorching heat experienced earlier this week, the monitor said, pointing to a string of record-breaking days that occurred in July and August 2023.
Global temperatures are expected to peak and fall soon, although there may be further fluctuations in the coming weeks, C3S said.
Heat and fire
Climate change is causing longer, stronger and more frequent extreme weather events such as heatwaves and floods, and this year has been marked by major disasters around the world.
Deadly heat waves have already hit North America, Mexico, India and Thailand this year, to name a few, while floods have devastated parts of East Africa, China and Brazil.
Forest fires are ravaging southern and eastern Europe, as well as Canada and the United States, while prolonged scorching temperatures in parts of the Northern Hemisphere make conditions drier.
The use of fossil fuels is the main driver of global warming, but emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases continue to rise, despite international efforts to switch to clean energy and slow rising temperatures.
2023 was the warmest year on record and 2024 could follow suit considering the “warm enough” temperatures experienced to date, C3S said.
But it’s “too early to confidently predict” what the hottest trend will be over the years, he added.