The global temperature reached its second highest value ever recorded last July, second only to July last year.
According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, the month was 1.48 degrees Celsius above the estimated July average for the period 1850 to 1900, the pre-industrial reference period.
To determine the temperature, billions of measurements from satellites, ships, planes and weather stations around the world are added together. The average surface temperature in July was 16.91 degrees – just 0.04 degrees less than last year’s record temperature.
From June 2023 to June 2024, Copernicus announced a new peak every month since data recording began. This record-breaking 13-month run has now come to an end – “but only by a hair’s breadth”, as Copernicus Deputy Director Samantha Burgess points out.
Climate change is progressing
“The overall context has not changed, our climate continues to warm,” she emphasizes. “The devastating effects of climate change began well before 2023 and will continue until global greenhouse gas emissions reach zero.”
The natural weather phenomenon El Niño may have contributed to the temperature records. It causes water temperatures in parts of the Pacific Ocean and air temperatures to rise every few years. Its counterpart La Niña is currently developing, Copernicus writes.
Despite the minimal decrease for the month as a whole, July saw the warmest days ever recorded: on July 22 and 23, global average temperatures were 17.16 and 17.15 degrees, respectively. Because this small difference is within the uncertainty factor of the data, it is not possible to say with certainty which day was the warmest ever, Copernicus writes.
It was cooler in northwestern Europe
In Europe, the average temperature in July exceeded the average value for the July months from 1991 to 2020 by 1.49 degrees. It was said to be the second warmest July since measurements began in Europe. While northwestern Europe was average or even cooler than normal, southern and eastern Europe recorded above-average temperatures.
Source: Krone
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