BRUSSELS — The year 2024 is increasingly likely to set a new record as the hottest year globally, despite a brief pause in breaking monthly temperature records, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). The organization reported Thursday that July 2024 marked the end of a 13-month streak of record-breaking temperatures, yet it still ranked as the second warmest July since records began in 1940.
July’s global average temperature reached 16.91 degrees Celsius, only 0.04 degrees below the scorching July 2023. “The streak of record-breaking months has come to an end, but only by a whisker,” noted Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.
From June 2023 through June 2024, every month set a new temperature record for that time of year. Despite a slight cooling in July, the overall trend remains alarming. “The overall context hasn’t changed; our climate continues to warm,” Burgess emphasized.
Between January and July 2024, global temperatures averaged 0.70 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 baseline. This significant anomaly needs to decrease sharply for 2024 to avoid surpassing 2023’s record heat. C3S has indicated that “it is increasingly likely that 2024 is going to be the warmest year on record.”
The heat has already had devastating impacts worldwide. On July 22 and 23, the Earth recorded its two hottest days ever, with global average temperatures reaching 17.6 degrees Celsius. The Mediterranean region suffered through extreme heat, while China and Japan experienced their hottest July on record.
In stark contrast, the world also faced extreme weather events, including severe flooding in Pakistan, wildfires across western U.S. states, and Hurricane Beryl, which wreaked havoc from the Caribbean to the southeastern United States.
“The end of record-breaking monthly temperatures is not cause for celebration,” said Friederike Otto, a climate scientist at Imperial College London. She pointed to the tragic heat-related deaths of 21 people in Morocco in July as a grim indicator of the extreme conditions facing many communities.
To combat climate change, experts stress the urgency of transitioning away from fossil fuels. “We need to stop burning fossil fuels, stop deforestation, and replace them with renewable energy,” Otto urged. “We have all the technology and know-how to do that… We just lack the political will.”
The oceans, which absorb 90 percent of excess heat from human activities, recorded their second warmest July as well, with average sea surface temperatures at 20.88 degrees Celsius, just 0.01 degrees below last year’s record.
Despite the shift from the El Niño weather pattern—known for exacerbating global temperatures—to its cooler counterpart, La Niña, temperatures over the ocean remain unusually high.
World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Celeste Saulo reflected on the ongoing climate crisis, stating, “This is becoming too hot to handle.” As the world grapples with unprecedented heat and its consequences, the call for immediate action has never been clearer.