Summer 2024 was the hottest on record globally. New record, dramatic future projections, This is what emerges from the Copernicus Climate Change Service of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts.
In detail, this August was the warmest on record globally (along with 2023), with an average surface air temperature of 16.82 degrees, or 0.71 degrees above the 1991-2020 average for the period . This is the thirteenth consecutive month to exceed the threshold of 1.5 degrees compared to pre-industrial temperatures (+1.51 degrees) and its maximums are in addition to those recorded in July and June. Furthermore, the last year (from September 2023 to 2024) was the warmest 12-month period ever recorded, with 0.76 degrees more than the 1991-2020 average and 1.64 compared to the pre-industrial average.
The anomaly for the period January-August 2024 is instead 0.70 degrees on the previous thirty years, the highest in the database, and 0.23°C warmer than the first eight months of 2023.
2024, in its entirety, therefore risks becoming the hottest year ever recorded, unless the excess temperature drops by at least 0.30 degrees. Considering the data at a territorial level, for Europe it is the second hottest August after 2022 (+1.57 degrees on the period 1850-1900), with peaks in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and Portugal. Outside the Old Continent, Mexico, the southern United States, Canada, China and Iran stand out.
(Online Union)
(RADIOCOR) 06-09-24 08:00:00 (0071) 5 NNNN