July 21 was the hottest day in the world since records began in 1940, with a global average temperature at the Earth's surface of 17,09 degrees Celsius, the European Copernicus program said on Tuesday.
The record slightly exceeds (0,01°C) the previous maximum, dated July 06, 2023.
According to Copernicus, this new daily record, which comes at a time when heat waves are hitting parts of the United States and Europe, could be surpassed again in the coming days, before temperatures drop, although there may be fluctuations in the coming weeks. .
“What is truly surprising is the magnitude of the difference between the temperature of the last 13 months and previous temperature records”, highlighted the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Carlo Buontempo, quoted in a statement.
“We are now in uncharted territory and as the climate continues to warm, we will certainly see new records being broken in the coming months and years,” he warned.
Before July 2023, the previous daily global average temperature record was 16,8°C, reached on August 13, 2016, according to Copernicus data.
Since July 03, 2023, 57 days have surpassed the 2016 record.
After a record hot year 2023, June 2024 was the hottest June ever measured, becoming the 13th consecutive month to set a record for a higher average temperature than equivalent months.
The global average temperature of the last 12 months is, therefore, the “highest ever recorded (…), 1,64°C above the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900”, when deforestation and the burning of coal, gas or oil had not yet warmed Earth's climate, Copernicus highlighted in early July.
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