Preliminary data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service indicates that the highest global temperature on record occurred on Sunday, July 21st. The worldwide mean surface air temperature reached a high of 17.09 degrees, marginally surpassing the record of 17.08 degrees established in July of last year. Throughout the previous week, intense heat affected significant portions of the US, Europe, and Russia.
Copernicus has substantiated that the record daily temperature average of the previous year was exceeded on Sunday, judging by their records, keeping track from 1940 onwards. Last year experienced four consecutive days, from July 3rd to July 6th, where the record was broken due to intense northern hemisphere heat, induced by climate change driven by fossil fuel usage.
Since June 2023, for 13 consecutive months, each month has been recorded as the hottest in history when compared to the respective month in previous years, according to Copernicus. A group of scientists have proposed that, given the effects of climate change and the El Niño weather occurrence that ceased in April, 2024 could be the hottest year ever recorded.
Global warming is causing extreme heat in Southern Europe, including Greece, where temperatures over 40 degrees have been sustained over the past fortnight, exacerbating wildfire threats. During a 24-hour period ending at 6.30pm on Monday, 33 wildfires broke out in Greece. Athens and the southern regions are on a severe alert, though the imminent cooler weather may provide some respite.
Spain is also expecting an elevated wildfire risk this week due to rising temperatures in the south. Forecasts by AEMET, the Spanish weather agency, suggest that Seville and Cordoba will reach around 43 degrees on Wednesday. The wildfire menace also extends to the southern regions of France and Italy.
Heading further north, Berlin and Paris are due to face heatwave conditions at the beginning of August. Projections suggest the average temperature in the German capital could go up to 28 degrees, exceeding the 30-year average by 8 degrees, on August 6th. Up to this point in the year, the unprecedented heat has already had widespread impacts on different areas of the global economy, including disruptions to air travel and power supply.
Agencies state that the Paris Agreement, established in 2015, is designed with the key objective of ensuring global warming does not exceed 2 degrees more than the average pre-industrial temperature, with the optimal target set at 1.5 degrees.