July is set to be the hottest July and hottest month ever recorded on Earth.
According to data from the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the first three weeks of July were the warmest three-week period on record since record-keeping began in 1880.
And analysis from the Leipzig University determined that July 2023 will be 0.2°C warmer than the previous warmest July, which was in 2019.
“For vast parts of North America, Asia, Africa and Europe – it is a cruel summer,” says United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. “For the entire planet, it is a disaster. And for scientists, it is unequivocal – humans are to blame. All this is entirely consistent with predictions and repeated warnings. The only surprise is the speed of the change.”
June 2023 was the hottest June on record according to NASA’s global temperature analysis.
NASA’s global temperature analysis is drawn from data collected by weather stations and Antarctic research stations, as well as instruments mounted on ships and ocean buoys.
“Because July is climatologically the hottest month of the year for the Earth as a whole, that makes July 2023 the hottest month since records have been kept and likely the hottest in 120,000 years, based on evidence of past temperatures found in ancient sediments and layers of ice, as well as on other paleoclimate records,” according to Scientific American.
“The extreme weather, which has affected many millions of people in July, is unfortunately the harsh reality of climate change and a foretaste of the future,” says the World Meteorological Organization Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
“The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever before. Climate action is not a luxury but a must.”