This summer, heat waves were experienced around the world, which scientists believe were exacerbated by human-induced climate change.
“Over the past three months, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest north on record [puslodes] summer,” C3S Vice Director Samantha Burgess acknowledged in the report.
“This string of record temperatures increases the likelihood that 2024 will be the hottest year on record.”
The average global temperature on Earth’s surface in August was 16.8 degrees Celsius.
Global temperatures in June and August were 1.5 degrees Celsius higher than the average temperature for the period from 1850 to 1900, which is the reference period for the pre-industrial era.
The heat in 2023 and the beginning of 2024 was exacerbated by the cyclical meteorological phenomenon “El Nino”, however, C3S scientist Julien Nicolas said that its influence was not as strong as it sometimes was.
The opposite cyclical meteorological phenomenon “La Nina” has not yet started.
Contrary to the global trend, regions such as Alaska, the eastern United States, parts of South America, Pakistan and the Sahel desert region of northern Africa experienced below-average temperatures in August.
Elsewhere, including Australia, parts of China, Japan and Spain, saw record-breaking heat in August.
Globally, August 2024 matched the previous global temperature record for this month a year ago, but June this year was hotter than the previous one, according to the C3S report.
July 2023 was slightly hotter than July this year, but the three-month period from June to August this year set a new record.
Oceans are also warming to new record levels, increasing the risk of stronger storms.
Outside the Earth’s poles, the average sea surface temperature in August was just under 21 degrees Celsius, the second highest ever recorded for the month.
Most of mainland Europe had a drier-than-average August, C3S said, noting wildfires in countries such as Greece. However, in western Russia and Turkey, August was wetter and there were floods in some places.
The eastern United States saw more rain than normal, including areas hit by Hurricane Debbie.
2024-09-06 21:41:16