Scientists have announced that April 2024 has set a new global temperature record, marking the warmest April ever noted, making it the 11th consecutive month of achieving such high temperatures. This data was released by the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which compared the recent readings with records dating back to 1940. It revealed that April 2024 was 1.58 degrees warmer than the suggested average during the pre-industrial era.
Additionally, the average global temperature from May 2023 to April 2024 has been the highest ever documented, reaching 1.61 degrees above the average for the pre-industrial period (1850-1900), preceding considerable human impact on global climate.
Europe, being the continent that is warming the fastest due to anthropogenic climate change, reported temperatures hovering around 1.49 degrees above the average for April compared to the period from 1990 to 2020. This accounts for the second highest record for Europe.
Meanwhile, global sea surface temperatures, excluding the polar regions, measured an average of 21.04 degrees in April, making it the warmest in records from 1979 for that month. This just fell short of the record 21.07 degrees seen in March and made it the 13th consecutive month of record-breaking sea surface temperatures for that respective time of year.
Even though the El Nino climate phenomenon, known for elevating global temperatures, is reported to be weakening, marine air temperatures are still maintaining exceptionally high levels. According to Carlo Buontempo, Director of C3S, while the temperature fluctuations attributed to natural cycles like El Nino are transient, the heightened trapping of energy in the oceans and atmosphere due to increasing greenhouse gases will continue driving global temperatures towards new records.