July set to be the warmest on record
July 27, 2023
July was "extremely likely" to be the hottest month on record globally, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization said Thursday.
"We don't have to wait for the end of the month to know this. Short of a mini-Ice Age over the next days, July 2023 will shatter records across the board," Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters in New York.
"The era of global warming has ended, the era of global boiling has arrived," Guterres said.
According to the report, the temperatures for the first 23 days of July averaged 16.95 degrees Celsius (62.51 Fahrenheit), well above the previous record of 16.63 degrees Celsius (61.93 Fahrenheit) set in July 2019.
July 6 was also the hottest day globally on record, beating the previous temperature record of 16.80 degrees Celsius on August 13, 2016. Every day since July 3 has been hotter than the August record.
The data comes on the heels of June setting the record for the hottest month ever.
July may be the hottest in 120,000 years
The climate services said Earth's temperature has been temporarily exceeding the threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
“The extreme weather which has affected many millions of people in July is unfortunately the harsh reality of climate change and a foretaste of the future,” said World Meteorological Organization’s Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
“The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever before. Climate action is not a luxury but a must,” Taalas said.
The figure, which is the goal of the Paris Agreement, is an indicator of the point at which climate impacts become increasingly harmful for people and the entire planet.
Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said it was "extremely likely" that July 2023 would be the hottest on record based on analysis that goes back to 1940.
Beyond the official records, Buontempo said climate proxy data — meant for scientists to determine climatic patterns before record-keeping began in the 1880s — suggests that temperatures in the period was "unprecedented" in history.
Possibly even longer "on the order of 100,000 years," he said.
An analysis by Germany's Leipzig University also found that July 2023 will shatter heat records.
Biden announces new steps to tackle heat
US President Joe Biden also Thursday announced new steps to protect workers as a major heat wave sweeps Southwest US.
They include a hazard alert notifying employers and employees about ways to stay protected from extreme heat as well as measures to make drinking water more accessible.
"Even those places that are used to extreme heat have never seen it as hot as it is now for as long as it's been," Biden said.
Nearly 40% of the US population faces heat advisories, according to the National Weather Service.
Hot weather all over the world
The news comes as extreme weather engulfs the planet, with heatwaves in Europe, North America and Asia and wildfires in Canada and Greece. Meanwhile record rainfall and floods have deluged South Korea, Japan, India and Pakistan.
The heat is also compounded by El Nino, which is borne of unusually warm waters in the eastern Pacific and leads warmer temperatures around the world.
While El Nino’s impacts are expected to peak later this year and into 2024, it has already begun to boost temperatures, scientists said.
rm/lo (Reuters, AFP, AP)