Monday, July 22, 2024, has set a new record as the hottest day ever recorded on Earth, surpassing the previous day’s record according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
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The global average surface air temperature on July 22, 2024, reached 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 degrees Fahrenheit). This surpasses the previous day’s record of 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.56 degrees Fahrenheit).
Before this week, the hottest day on record was in early July 2023, where temperatures were sustained for four consecutive days.
Before that the hottest recorded day was in August 2016 with temperatures reaching 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.24 degrees Fahrenheit).
The current average global temperatures have not been this high in about 125,000 years according to climate scientists.
Climate scientists address that the primary driver behind this heat is human activities, the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas. These activities release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere leading to global warming.
This record-setting heat has occurred without the influence of El Niño, a natural climate pattern known to elevate global temperatures.
El Niño ended earlier this year, indicating that the current rise in temperature is driven more by human actions than natural phenomena.
A warmer-than-usual winter in Antarctica has also contributed to this heat record. This is similar occurrence last year when a warmer Antarctic winter contributed to setting records in early July 2023.
Before the record-breaking temperatures of 2024, the highest recorded average temperature was 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.24 degrees Fahrenheit) on August 13, 2016.
Last year’s extreme heat also broke previous records, making 2023 and 2024 the hottest years in recorded history.
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Scientists say that the world is now as warm as it was 125,000 years ago, a period long before human civilization developed agriculture.
This phenomenon was also observed in July of last year which led to similarly high global temperature records.
California experienced scorching triple-digit heat by wildfire conditions across the state. Southern Europe faced a heat wave with temperatures soaring to 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 degrees Fahrenheit) especially in Spain and igniting forest fires in Greece and Portugal.
Countries like Japan and China sweltered under heatwaves impacting millions of residents. Gulf Regions combined heat and humidity reached oppressive levels.
Cities across Japan, Indonesia and China have reported record-breaking heatwaves. In parts of the Gulf countries, heat indexes have exceeded 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit), factoring in humidity, while European countries have seen temperatures surge past 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).
C3S data goes back to 1940, but other global temperature records from the United States and United Kingdom extend back to 1880.
Studies of tree rings and ice cores show that current temperatures are the highest in about 120,000 years.
The top 10 hottest years on record have occurred within the past decade (2015-2024).
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