From June to August, the three months of the Northern Hemisphere summer saw the highest global average temperature ever measured.
The summer of 2024 was the hottest ever recorded on the planet, where temperature records have been continuing unabated for over a year, with its procession of heatwaves, droughts and deadly floods fueled by relentless global warming.
Historic heat levels in several countries
From June to August, the three months of the Northern Hemisphere summer saw the highest global average temperature ever measured, already breaking the record set in 2023, the European Copernicus Observatory announced on September 6, 2024.Over the past three months, the planet has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day and the hottest Northern Hemisphere summer.“, warned Samantha Burgess, deputy head of Copernicus’ Climate Change Service (C3S), in her monthly newsletter.This series of records increases the probability that 2024 will be the hottest year on record.“, also before 2023, she added.
Countries including Spain, Japan, Australia (in winter) and China have announced this week that they have measured historic levels of heat. The “Extreme weather events seen this summer will only intensify, with devastating consequences for people and the planet, unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gases“, Ms Burgess further warned.
Humanity, which emitted around 57.4 billion tonnes of CO equivalent2 in 2022 according to the UN, has not yet started to reduce its carbon pollution. But China, the leading polluter ahead of the United States, is approaching its peak emissions, building twice as much capacity in wind and solar as the rest of the world.
Typhoons, heat waves…
In the meantime, climate disasters have been occurring on every continent. At least 1,300 people died in the heatwave during the pilgrimage to Mecca in June.
India, regularly below 45°C, has tested the limits of its system[…]
- sciencesetavenir.fr
