The summer of 2024 was the hottest on record worldwide, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. According to the report, the global average temperature in the months of June to August was 0.69 degrees above the average for the reference period from 1991 to 2020.
Copernicus relies on a dataset based on billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.
Europe also experienced its warmest summer on record, with an average temperature 1.54 degrees higher than from 1991 to 2020.
Mark of 1.5 degrees exceeded in 12 of 13 months
The average global surface temperature in August was 16.82 degrees Celsius, 1.51 degrees above pre-industrial levels.
The 1.5 degree mark has already been exceeded in 12 of the last 13 months. Nevertheless, the Paris climate target of keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels in the long term is not yet considered to have been missed.
Current year back on track for heat record
However, if we look at the average of the last twelve months, the global average temperature was actually 1.64 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average from 1850 to 1900.
The current year is again on track to be the warmest ever recorded. According to Copernicus, the average global temperature anomaly since the beginning of the year was 0.7 degrees higher than the average of the reference period from 1991 to 2020 – the highest value ever recorded.
To avoid a record year, the deviation would have to decrease by at least 0.3 degrees for the remaining months – this has never happened before, according to the Copernicus statement.
“In the last three months of 2024, the Earth experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day and the hottest boreal summer on record,” said Copernicus Climate Change Service Deputy Director Samantha Burgess. This series of temperature records increases the likelihood that 2024 will be the warmest year on record.
Regional differences in Europe
Europe experienced the second warmest August – after August 2022 – on record, but with regional differences. The average temperature in mainland Europe was 1.57 degrees above the 1991-2020 average.
While temperatures were above average in southern and eastern Europe, they were below average in the northwestern parts of Ireland and the United Kingdom, in Iceland, on the west coast of Portugal and in southern Norway.
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