The month of July has been exceptionally hot, so much so that scientists predict it will be the hottest month globally on record. It is likely to be the warmest month in human history, even with several days remaining. The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service have declared that the heat experienced in July has surpassed all previous records. Earth’s temperature has temporarily risen above the internationally accepted target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). Some experts believe that this month has been the hottest in approximately 120,000 years.
This month, temperatures were consistently 1.5 degrees higher than pre-industrial times for a record-breaking 16 days. The Paris climate accord aims to maintain the global temperature average over 20 or 30 years at 1.5 degrees. Although there have been occasional instances of exceeding this threshold in the past, it has never occurred in July. The heatwaves experienced throughout North America, Europe, and Asia have been so intense that researchers anticipated this record-breaking event. The relentless heatwave in the US Southwest shows no signs of abating, extending into the Midwest and East and affecting over 128 million Americans with heat advisories.
“Unless there is a sudden ice age, it is virtually certain that we will break the record for the warmest July and month ever recorded,” said Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo. This unprecedented heat is an indication of future climate changes resulting from global warming. These changes go beyond prolonged heatwaves and include increased flooding, longer-lasting wildfires, and extreme weather events that put many lives at risk. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders, particularly those from wealthy nations, to take stronger action in reducing heat-trapping greenhouse gas emissions. Despite international climate negotiations and pledges, greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise.
“Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it is already here and it’s frightening,” Guterres warned. “We have transitioned from an era of global warming to an era of global boiling.” Buontempo and other scientists attribute these record-breaking temperatures to human-caused climate change, amplified by the natural El Nino warming of the central Pacific, which affects global weather patterns. According to Copernicus calculations, the average global temperature for the first 23 days of July was 16.95 degrees Celsius (62.5 degrees Fahrenheit), nearly one-third of a degree Celsius (approximately 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than the previous record set in July 2019.
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