Summer temperatures broke records for the second consecutive year, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Newly released data found that 2023 experienced the hottest June and August on the books, and that August marked the 13th time global temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, the temperature the Paris Climate Agreement says is the threshold for catastrophic warming.
It’s less clear whether July broke records, with Copernicus putting the month at slightly cooler than last year while the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined it was a fraction of a degree hotter.
Overall, the three-month period from June to August was 0.69 degrees hotter than the average for 1991-2020, 0.03 degrees above the previous record held by summer of 2023.
Copernicus also determined that the global average temperature for the 12-month period ending in August was the highest of any 12 months on record, measured as 0.76 degrees above the average for 1991-2020 and 1.64 degrees hotter than the pre-industrial average, the latter half of the 19th century. The calendar year so far has a global-average temperature anomaly, or deviation from the long-term average, of 0.70 degrees above the average for 1991-2020 and 0.23 degrees hotter than the first eight months of 2023.
The data also indicates that 2024 will almost certainly be the warmest year on record, unless the average anomaly falls by an unprecedented 0.3 degrees in the remaining four months.
“During the past three months of 2024, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest boreal summer on record,” Copernicus deputy director Samantha Burgess said in a statement. “The temperature-related extreme events witnessed this summer will only become more intense, with more devastating consequences for people and the planet unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
The newest data comes in the wake of findings from NASA that found July 22 was the hottest single day ever recorded. NASA also found 13 consecutive months of temperature records in June. In addition to the extreme heat of the past year, increased temperatures associated with climate change have also been linked to more intense weather events and natural disasters, from flooding to wildfires and hurricanes.
