Climate change: The world just experienced its hottest summer on record

CNN
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As heatwaves continue to batter parts of the world, scientists report that this deadly, deadly summer was the hottest on record – by a wide margin.

June to August was the planet’s warmest period since records began in 1940, according to data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The average global temperature this summer was 16.77°C (62.19°F), according to Copernicus, which is 0.66°C higher than the average for the period from 1990 to 2020 — beating the previous record set in August 2019, by nearly 0.3°C. .

These records, which track average air temperature around the world, are usually broken by hundredths of a degree.

This is the first set of scientific data confirming what many thought was inevitable. It was a Extremely hot summer For swathes of the northern hemisphere – including parts of the United States, Europe and Japan – With record heat waves and unprecedented ocean temperatures.

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The planet has seen it June is the hottest month on recordfollowed by The hottest July Both broke previous records by large margins.

August was also the warmest month on record, according to new Copernicus data, and was warmer than any other month this year except for July. The global average temperature for this month was 16.82 degrees Celsius, 0.31 degrees warmer than the previous record set in 2016.

“Days of summer when dogs don’t just bark, they bite,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in a statement about Copernicus’ statements. Scientists have long warned about what our addiction to fossil fuels will trigger. Our climate is collapsing faster than we can handle extreme weather events hitting every corner of the planet.

It is estimated that July and August were 1.5 degrees warmer than pre-industrial levels, according to Copernicus. main threshold Scientists have long warned that the world must remain underground to prevent the most catastrophic effects of climate change.

As scientists focus more on rising global temperatures in the long term, these temporary breaches provide an important preview of what the world can expect to look like this summer. at 1.5 degrees of warming.

“The Northern Hemisphere has just experienced a summer full of extremes – with frequent heat waves fueling devastating forest fires“Flooding damages health, disrupts daily life and causes permanent damage to the environment,” said Petteri Taalas, Secretary-General of the World Meteorological Organization, in a statement.

Southern Hemisphere countries also experienced surprisingly warm winters, with temperatures well above average in Australia. several countries in South America and Antarctica.

So was the global mean of ocean temperatures off the chartsWhich helps to strengthen Major hurricanes in the Atlantic and hurricanes in the Pacific.

In July, a sudden sea heat wave off the coast of Florida brought the ocean into contact Hot tub temperatures.. While parts of the North Atlantic witnessed in the month of June An “unprecedented” marine heatwave. With water temperatures up to 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than normal.

Every day from the end of July to the end of August, ocean temperatures exceed the previous record set in 2016, according to Copernicus.

It’s not yet clear if this will be the warmest year on record on Earth, but it sure looks like it’s getting close.

With four months left until the end of the year, 2023 currently ranks as the second hottest year on record, according to Copernicus, by only 0.01 degrees Celsius from 2016, which is currently the warmest year on record.

Scientists say next year It is likely to be hotterDue to the arrival of the El Niño phenomenon, which is a natural climate fluctuation that leads to higher sea surface temperatures than the average and affects the weather.

“This El Niño is developing in a much warmer ocean than any previous El Niño, so we are watching with interest how this event evolves in terms of strength and impact,” Copernicus deputy director Samantha Burgess told CNN.

The summer has been a record-breaking summer, Burgess said, and it will only get worse if the world continues to burn fossil fuels that are heating the planet.

“The scientific evidence is overwhelming – we will continue to see more climate records and more frequent, intense extreme weather events affecting society and ecosystems, until we stop emitting greenhouse gases,” she said in a statement.

Copernicus’ data was released on the same day that the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released its 2022 State of the Climate report – an annual health check of the planet.

It found record ocean temperatures and global sea levels last year, and unprecedented concentrations of planet-warming pollution in the atmosphere — with carbon pollution reaching the highest levels in at least 800,000 years, according to the institute’s report. a report.