Earth registers hottest July on record: US agency
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NOAA said that 2024 now has a 77 per cent chance of being the warmest year on record.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON - Last month was the hottest July on record, making it the 14th straight record-breaking month, a US agency reported on Aug 12.
The monthly report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said 2024 now has a 77 per cent chance of being the warmest year on record.
The July calculation by the NOAA contradicted the European Union’s Copernicus climate monitor, which – using a different data set – calculated July’s average temperature as being slightly lower than that in July 2023.
However, both agencies agree on the alarming trend of record-breaking heat, with the past year seeing month after month of new highs.
According to the NOAA, whose historical data goes back 175 years, 2024 will definitely be one of the five hottest years on record.
In July, the global temperature was 1.21 deg C above the 20th century average of 15.8 deg C, the US agency said.
The month saw a series of heatwaves across Mediterranean and Gulf countries, it added.
Africa, Europe and Asia had their hottest July on record, while North America was the second hottest.
Ocean temperatures were their second warmest ever in July, according to the NOAA, with the same reading as Copernicus.
Scientists at Copernicus noted last week that “air temperatures over the ocean remained unusually high over many regions” despite a swing from the El Nino weather pattern that helped fuel a spike in global temperatures to its opposite La Nina, which has a cooling effect.
2023 was also the warmest year on record.
“The devastating effects of climate change started well before 2023 and will continue until global greenhouse gas emissions reach net zero,” said Dr Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus. AFP
