Monday was the hottest day ever measured globally, exceeding the 17°C average mark for the first time, according to initial measurements on Tuesday from a US meteorological agency.
The daily average global surface air temperature on 3 July was measured at 17.01°C by an agency under the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
This measurement surpasses the previous daily record (16.92°C) set on 24 July 2022, according to the data from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Prediction, which dates back to 1979.
The air temperature, whose daily average fluctuates between about 12°C and 17°C during the course of the year, averaged 16.20°C in early July between 1979 and 2000.
The new record, which has yet to be corroborated by other measurements, could be broken quickly as the Northern Hemisphere begins the summer season and the global average temperature generally continues to rise until late July/early August.
Already in early June, global average temperatures were the warmest ever recorded for this period by the European Copernicus service, beating previous records by a “substantial margin.”
These observations are a likely foretaste of the El Niño phenomenon – generally associated with an increase in global temperatures – coupled with the effects of global warming caused by human activity.
On 8 June, NOAA had announced the official arrival of El Niño, noting that it “could lead to new temperature records” in certain regions.
In June, several records were broken in Asia, the UK experienced its hottest June on record and Mexico was hit by an extreme heat wave.
According to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), there is a 66% probability that the annual global mean near-surface temperature will temporarily exceed pre-industrial levels by more than 1.5°C for at least one year between 2023 and 2027.
The year 2022 was the eighth consecutive year in which global annual temperatures were at least 1 degree above the levels observed between 1850 and 1900.
