Global average temperatures hit an unprecedented high on Sunday, marking the hottest day on record, according to the European Union’s climate monitoring system.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported that the global average surface temperature reached 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit) on 21 July. This slightly surpassed the previous record of 17.08 degrees Celsius set on 6 July the previous year.
“July 21 marked a new record for global daily average temperature,” C3S Director Carlo Buontempo said Tuesday.
Buontempo highlighted the notable disparity between temperatures over the past 13 months and previous records. “We are in uncharted territory. As the climate continues to warm, we can expect more records to be broken in the coming months and years,” he added.
Sunday’s record high temperature, confirmed by C3S, is part of a data set that dates back to 1940. However, what is noteworthy is the stark difference between recent temperatures and those of previous years.
Before this new record, the previous daily maximum for global average temperature was 16.8 degrees Celsius, recorded on August 13, 2016. Since July 3 last year, that record has been broken on 57 different days.
Extreme heat has gripped much of the United States, Russia, and southern Europe in recent days. New York City, for example, has issued a heat advisory, with residents using fans that spray water to cool themselves during the soaring temperatures.
Extreme heat events like these are increasingly being blamed on the climate crisis, which is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels. C3S confirmed that June continued the planet’s annual record-breaking heat streak, with every month since June of the previous year ranking as the warmest for that month since records began.
Climate scientists have long warned that such heatwaves would lead to prolonged periods of extreme temperatures. They continue to call for rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate the continuing rise in average global temperatures.
