The summer of 2024, including June, July and August, is the hottest on planet Earth since measurements exist, which is why the entire year will most likely be the hottest so far, the European Copernicus service announced.
If that sounds familiar, that’s because the records broken by Earth were only set last year as human-caused climate change, along with the temporary impact of the El Niño climate phenomenon — a warming of the Pacific Ocean — continues to increase temperatures and extreme weather, scientists said. .
According to Copernicus, the average temperature in June, July and August 2024 was 16.8 degrees Celsius, which is 0.03 degrees Celsius higher than last year’s record.
The Copernicus data go back to 1940, while the American, British and Japanese ones, where measurements began in the mid-19th century, show that the last decade was the warmest since the beginning of regular measurements and probably in the last 120,000 years, according to some scientists.
In August, both in 2024 and 2023, the highest average temperature was measured in that month at the global level – 16.82 degrees Celsius. July 2024 was a shade less warm than last year, but since June 2024 was much warmer than June 2023, this year’s summer was the hottest overall, said Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo.
“These sobering numbers indicate that the climate crisis is tightening its grip around us,” said Stefan Ramstorf, a scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research, who was not part of the research.
Until last month, Buontempo, like some other climate scientists, wasn’t sure 2024 would break last year’s record, mainly because August 2023 was much warmer than average. But when August 2024 recorded the same average temperature as last year, Buontempo became “pretty sure” that this year will be the warmest on record.
“For 2024 not to become the warmest year since measurements exist, we need to see a very significant cooling in the remaining few months, which does not seem likely at this stage,” said Buontempo.
Jennifer Francis, a scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Cape Cod, said there has been a flurry of extreme weather — heat, flooding, wildfires and high winds.
“Like people living in a war zone, with constant bomb blasts and gunshots, we become deaf to what should be panic alarms and air raid sirens,” Francis said.
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Source: www.e2.rs
