World sets global heat record for second consecutive day

Earth sweltered under a global heat record for the second consecutive day on Tuesday, yet another milestone this year amid heatwaves observed around the world.

The worldwide average temperature reached 17.18 Celsius, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer – up from Monday’s record of 17.01 Celsius.

The new record temperature is approximately 0.8C higher than the average for this time of year during the late 20th century, a period when global temperatures had already been influenced by the human-induced climate crisis.

The same University of Maine climate calculator - based on satellite data and computer simulations - forecasts a similar temperature for Wednesday that would be in record territory, with an Antarctica average that is 4.5C warmer than the 1979-2000 average.

High temperature records were surpassed on July 3 and 4 in Quebec and northwestern Canada and Peru.

It comes after a series of worrying temperature extremes noted this year, including the extreme “unheard of” marine heatwaves in June around the UK coast, record low levels of Arctic ice and unusually early heat in Asia that affected one-third of the world’s population.

It also comes after the Met Office said that the UK experienced its hottest June of record this year and that southern US and Mexico were reeling under an intense heatwave killing over a hundred people.

Scientists have said the scorching heat experienced worldwide can be attributed to a combination of worsening climate crisis from burning fossil fuels and other human activities, as well as the El Nino weather pattern, associated with hotter temperatures, which started this month in the Pacific.

Dr Robert Rohde, the lead scientist at Berkeley Earth, a US non-profit climate research organisation, warned that given the extreme heating, Monday’s temperature record can be broken again “over the next six weeks”.

NCEP has placed Earth's average temperature yesterday as the hottest single day thus far measured by humans.

This is driven by the combination of El Niño on top of global warming, and we may well see a few even warmer days over the next 6 weeks. pic.twitter.com/RCrROHaWwp

— Dr. Robert Rohde (@RARohde) July 4, 2023

Several other scientists have echoed the same concern. Dr Friederike Otto, climate science lecturer at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the founder of World Weather Attribution (WWA) that has assessed the role of global heating in extreme weather events, called it “a death sentence for people and ecosystems”.

“This is not a milestone we should be celebrating, it’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems,” she said. “And worryingly, it won’t be the hottest day for a long time.”

“With El Niño developing, the world will likely break this record again in the coming months. We absolutely need to stop burning fossil fuels.”

Scientists have been warning that as El Nino officially began, the world can see the impact of extreme temperatures this year as a warning of what’s to come if the average global temperatures breach the crucial 1.5C mark.

Earlier in July, this temperature record was temporarily broken, and now July is expected to be the “hottest month ever”.

“Chances are that July will be the warmest ever, and with it the hottest month ever: ‘ever’ meaning since the Eemian, which is some 120,000 years ago,” Dr Karsten Haustein, researcher at the University of Leipzig, said.

“While Southern Hemisphere temperatures will drop a bit in the next few days, chances are that July and August will see even warmer days yet given that El Niño is now pretty much in full swing.”

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the UN’s top scientific body, has warned of worsening extreme weather events in its assessments stating the current global temperatures have not been as high as they are now in the past 125,000 years.

This heat, which is causing intense heatwaves, wildfires, erratic rain and stronger cyclones, is primarily driven by burning fossil fuels such as coal and gas for energy production since the industrial era in the 1800s.

Just in 2023 so far, record-breaking extreme events have been reported across the globe. Large regions in Texas and the southern United States experienced exceptionally high temperatures attributed to a heat-dome phenomenon.

Climate Central’s analysis indicates that the human-induced climate crisis has made such extreme temperatures at least five times more likely.

Meanwhile, Canada continued to battle devastating wildfires, which have already become the worst in its history and left large parts of the US blanketed in hazardous smoke.

With more than 8.4 million hectares burned, an area larger than the United Arab Emirates, the host of this year’s climate conference, the wildfires have created significant smoke, impacting air quality in both Canada and the United States.

China also faced an extreme heatwave, with temperatures surpassing 35C, accompanied by severe flooding in parts of the country. Climate Central’s rapid assessment reveals that climate crisis has increased the likelihood of heatwaves in China by at least five times.

Meanwhile, humid heatwaves gripped eastern India again for the second time this year after an unusually early onset in April when it scorched in 45C temperatures along with records shattered in 12 countries across Asia.

According to WWA, this heatwave was made 30 times more likely due to climate crisis.

North Africa also endured extreme temperatures, with readings approaching 50C. Climate change played a substantial role in intensifying the heatwave in this region.

Ocean temperatures around the British Isles and the Nordic countries were at a category five extreme level in June, shocking scientists and posing a risk of mass death of fish and marine life.

In the Antarctic region, temperatures soared to unprecedented levels, with several stations registering positive temperatures despite it being the winter season. The Vernadsky station broke its July temperature record, reaching 8.7C.

IPCC scientists say that average global heating since the pre-industrial times now stands at 1.2C. Deadlier heatwaves are expected as the world struggles to limit temperatures by 1.5C as agreed in the Paris Agreement.

The extreme events are hitting the world’s poorest, who have a negligible contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, the hardest. Climate scientists and experts have been demanding a complete phase-out of fossil fuels and more finance to be moved to tackle the intensifying impact of the crises.

World leaders will once again assemble at this year’s climate negotiations in Dubai to reform pledges and agree on a new agreement to tackle the climate crisis.