The past three days have been the warmest on record, with the average temperature reaching over 17 degrees Celsius. This record was broken daily, with Monday being the first day to exceed 17 degrees Celsius, followed by Tuesday and Wednesday.
The global average temperature on Tuesday and Wednesday was 17.18 degrees Celsius, according to Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations. On Monday, the average temperature was 17.01 degrees Celsius, as reported by the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP). The previous global temperature record of 16.92 degrees Celsius was set in August 2016, according to NCEP.
This year’s June has been the warmest on record globally, with the average temperature reaching 16.51 degrees Celsius, which is approximately 0.5 degrees Celsius higher than the average from 1991 to 2020, according to Copernicus, the European Union’s Agency for monitoring atmospheric and climate changes. The record was attributed to ocean warming caused by climate change and the return of a natural meteorological phenomenon known as El Niño, characterized by warming ocean water.
Scientists have warned for months that 2023 could bring record-breaking heat waves due to climate change caused by human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels. This record-breaking heat is another piece of evidence supporting the widely supported theory that global warming is pushing us toward a warmer future.
While rising average temperatures are a well-known effect of global warming, it is not the only consequence. Some small island states in the Pacific are gradually losing their territory due to rising sea levels. Pessimistic scenarios even estimate they could be submerged entirely in the next century. The recent heatwaves and temperature records serve as a reminder of the urgent need for action to mitigate the impacts of climate change.
Despite the unofficial daily data, they provide a helpful overview of what is happening in our warming world, according to Sean Birkle, a climatologist at the University of Maine. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) will include this data in its calculations.
Although the data set used only dates back to 1979, Sarah Kapnick of NOAA said that given additional data, it is likely that the world did experience its warmest day in several hundred years earlier this week. Temperature records were broken this week in Quebec and Peru, and in Beijing, temperatures exceeded 35 degrees Celsius for nine consecutive days last week. American cities from Medford, Oregon, to Tampa, Florida, are experiencing historic highs, according to Zack Taylor of the National Weather Service (NWS).