Climate Group: Summer 2024 Was Hottest on Record

A European climate service says summer 2024 was the hottest on record. The declaration makes it even more likely that this year will also turn out to be the warmest ever measured.

The summer heat data came from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Copernicus aims to provide detailed data on “past, present and future climate in Europe and the rest of the world.”

The service said that during the months of June, July and August, temperatures worldwide averaged 16.8 degrees Celsius. That was 0.03 degrees warmer than in 2023.

Copernicus records only date back to 1940. But American, British and Japanese records go back to the mid-19th century. Those records suggest the last 10 years have been the hottest since official climate data measurements started.

Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo told The Associated Press the Augusts in both 2024 and 2023 tied for the hottest Augusts at 16.82 degrees Celsius. The service reported July was the first time in more than a year that the world did not set a record. But because June 2024 was so much hotter than June 2023, this summer as a whole was the hottest, it said.

Buontempo noted that the high temperatures also likely pushed air humidity levels to record highs during the past summer.

The Copernicus chief said all the latest data suggests 2024 will likely break the record for the warmest year ever recorded. “In order for 2024 not to become the warmest on record, we need to see very significant landscape cooling for the remaining few months,” Buontempo added. But he noted, that “doesn't look likely.”

Climate scientists say the record temperatures have real consequences for many people around the planet.

Jonathan Overpeck is a climate scientist at the University of Michigan. He told the AP the continued warming will lead to “more misery around the world” in places seeing the most extreme temperatures.

Overpeck suggested Phoenix, Arizona as an example. The southwestern American city has already experienced more than 100 days of temperatures over 37.8 degrees Celsius this year.

“With longer and more severe heat waves come more severe droughts in some places, and more intense rains and flooding in others,” he said. “Climate change is becoming too obvious, and too costly, to ignore,” Overpeck added.

Jennifer Francis is a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. She said more communities worldwide are now having to deal with “violent and dangerous” conditions that include extreme heat, floods, wildfires and high winds.

In an email to the AP, Francis compared people living in areas with extreme climate to those living in conflict areas. She said that in both cases, people get so used to the situation they can become “deaf” to the severe conditions surrounding them every day.

Copernicus chief Buontempo noted an El Niño weather system fueled part of last year's record heat. El Niño is a warming of surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean. The event usually causes hot, dry weather in Asia and Australia. It can also drive weather changes in other parts of the world.

But the El Niño effect has ended, Buontempo said. Now, human-caused climate change from fossil fuel use is again the main driver of increased temperatures, he said.

“It's really not surprising that we see this, this heat wave, that we see these temperature extremes,” Buontempo said. “We are bound to see more.”

I'm Bryan Lynn.

The Associated Press reported this story. Bryan Lynn adapted the report for VOA Learning English.

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humidity – n. a measurement of how much water there is in the air

landscape – n. the appearance of an area of land

consequence – n. the result of an action or situation, especially one with a bad result

drought – n. a long period when there is little or no rain and people do not have enough water

obvious – adj. easy to understand or see

deaf – adj. to ignore something because it is too often seen or heard

bound – adj. very likely