On July 21, the Earth recorded its highest global average temperature in at least 84 years, reaching a record 17.09 degrees Celsius, as reported by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). This milestone continues a trend of unprecedented heat, with June marking the 12th consecutive month of global temperatures either meeting or surpassing the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold. Every month since June of the previous year has set a new record for warmth.
Preliminary data from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) indicates that July 21 was the hottest day since at least 1940, surpassing the previous record of 17.08 degrees Celsius set on July 6, 2023.
Before July 2023, the highest recorded daily average temperature for the Earth was 16.8 degrees Celsius, set in August 2016. Since July 3, 2023, however, there have been 57 days with temperatures surpassing this previous record.
According to a report of PTI, Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S, said the difference between the temperatures over the past 13 months and previous records is staggering. "We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate continues to warm, we are bound to see new records in the coming months and years," he said.
Analysis indicates that both 2023 and 2024 have experienced notably higher annual maximum daily global temperatures compared to previous years. The period from 2015 to 2024 accounts for the 10 warmest years on record. Typically, global average temperatures peak between late June and early August due to the northern hemisphere's summer. During this time, the landmasses in the northern hemisphere heat up more rapidly than the southern hemisphere's oceans can cool down.
With global average temperatures already at near-record levels, a new daily average temperature record was not completely unexpected. C3S scientists attributed the sudden rise in daily global temperatures to much higher-than-average temperatures over large parts of Antarctica. Such large anomalies are not uncommon during the Antarctic winter and also contributed to record global temperatures in early July 2023.