2024-05-08 11:18:01
According to a new report from the EU’s Copernicus climate monitoring office, April is another month with record average global air and sea surface temperatures. The unusually warm conditions came despite the continued weakening of the El Niño weather phenomenon, contributing for the increase in heat.
Since June last year, every month has been the warmest such period on record.
April 2024 is no exception and is 1.58 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial 1850-1900 average.
“Although unusual, a similar series of monthly global temperature records previously occurred in 2015-2016,” Copernicus said, quoted by Nova.
The average temperature over the past 12 months is also 1.6 degrees above pre-industrial levels, exceeding the 1.5 degree target set by the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming.
“The anomaly does not mean that the Paris target, which is calculated over a period of decades, has been missed. But it signals how remarkable the global temperature conditions we are currently experiencing are,” climatologist Julien Nicolas told AFP.
Last month was the second warmest April ever recorded in Europe. The planet was affected by various extreme phenomena in the form of floods and droughts.
April was wetter than usual across much of Europe, although southern Spain, Italy and the Western Balkans were drier than average, Copernicus said.
Heavy rains led to flooding in parts of North America, Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.
“Climate forecasts indicate that the second half of the year may see a transition to La Nina, which lowers global temperatures,” Nicolas said.