Monday 3 July was the hottest day on record worldwide, according to figures from the US Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP).
A security guard with an electric fan around his neck at work in Beijing on Monday. The Chinese capital has reported nine days in a row of temperatures above 35 degrees, and it is forecast to reach 39.6 degrees here later in the week. Photo: Andy Wong / AP / NTB
The average global temperature was measured at 17.01 degrees, the measurements from NCEP show, which is analyzed of the University of Maine.
The previous record of 16.92 degrees was set on both July 24, 2022 and August 14, 2016, writes Forbes. The temperature analyzes go back to 1979.
The southern United States has suffered from intense heat in recent weeks. In parts of China, a heat wave with temperatures above 35 degrees has persisted. At the same time, temperatures above 50 degrees have been measured in North Africa.
Even in Antarctica, where it is now winter, unusually high temperatures are being recorded.
– This is not a milestone we should celebrate, says climate researcher Friederike Otto at the Crantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Imperial College in London.
– This is a death sentence for people and ecosystems, she says.
Increasing emissions
Scientists believe man-made climate change, combined with the natural weather phenomenon El Niño, is to blame for the high temperatures.
– Unfortunately, it seems to be only the first in a series of new records to be set this year. Increasing climate emissions combined with El Niño are pushing temperatures to new heights, says Zeke Hausfather, researcher at Berkeley Earth, in a statement.
NCEP belongs to the scientific directorate of the US National Weather Service, which in turn is subordinate to the agency National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In June, NOAA scientists determined that a new El Niño has occurred.
Cyclists take a drink break during an evening ride in San Antonio, Texas, which has also been hit by high temperatures this summer. Photo: Eric Gay / AP / NTB
UN warning
The UN warned on Tuesday that the world must prepare for the consequences of El Niño, which is expected to contribute to higher global temperatures throughout 2023.
– The start of El Niño will greatly increase the probability of new temperature records and trigger more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean, says Secretary-General Petteri Taalas of the World Meteorological Organization WMO.
– Governments around the world must mobilize to prepare to limit the consequences for our health, our ecosystems and our economies, says Taalas.
Still new records
In 2016, a global temperature record was set as a result of a strong El Niño combined with man-made global warming. But according to the WMO, this record may also soon fall.
From 2020 to the start of 2023, the world was characterized by the opposite phenomenon, La Niña. During this period, temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, and the world as a whole, were lower than they otherwise would have been.
Despite this dampening effect, heat records have fallen like flies in a number of countries in recent years.
2023-07-04 20:34:12
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