Global average temperatures hit all-time highs during the summer months of June, July, and August to surpass the previous record set in 2023, according to Copernicus, the European Climate Change Service.
“The last three months saw the hottest June and August on record, as well as the hottest day and the warmest summer in the Northern Hemisphere,” said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Head of Copernicus’s Climate Change Service (C3S).
This series of heat records heightens the possibility of 2024 becoming the hottest year on record, again outstripping 2023. This heat surge is driven by the escalating greenhouse gas concentration in the atmosphere due to human activities.
Countries including Spain, Japan, Australia (during its winter), and several provinces in China announced historic heat levels for the month of August this week.
Globally, August 2024 matches the temperature record for any August, set in 2023, at 1.51°C above the average pre-industrial climate (1850-1900). This is above the 1.5°C threshold designated by the ambitious 2015 Paris Agreement.
This notable threshold has been breached for 13 of the last 14 months, Copernicus data shows. However, this slightly varies from figures reported by American, Japanese, and British institutes.
Boreal Summer Seasonal Highlights 🌡Global-average temperature for June-August 2024 was the highest on record at 0.69°C above 1991-2020 average 🌡European-average temperature for this period was the highest on record at 1.54°C above 1991-2020 average 👉 https://t.co/nd5JTy9qwY pic.twitter.com/W3xZ3uh6an
— Copernicus ECMWF (@CopernicusECMWF) September 6, 2024
Over the past year, the average temperature was 1.64°C warmer than in the pre-industrial era, says Copernicus. The year 2023 ended with a 1.48°C anomaly, therefore suggesting 2024, already marked by heatwaves, droughts and extreme floods, will likely be the first full year to exceed the threshold.
Such an anomaly should be observed over several decades to determine that the climate, currently heated by approximately 1.2°C, has stabilised at +1.5°C.
Copernicus’ temperature records date back to 1940. However, the average temperatures seen this year are unprecedented in at least 120,000 years, based on paleoclimatology data derived from ice and sedimentary cores.
Global heat records are fuelled by an unprecedented overheating of the oceans (which cover 70% of the globe), these have absorbed 90% of the excess heat caused by human activity. Mean surface sea temperatures have remained unusually high since May 2023, providing additional fuel to cyclones.
