July was the second hottest month

Scientists announced that this July was the second hottest July on record.


The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Thursday that last month was the second warmest July on record for the planet, breaking a 13-month period in which every month was the hottest, partly due to a warming El Nino weather pattern.

Copernicus' monthly report said this month was 1.48 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial reference between 1850 and 1990, while the last 12 months have been 1.64 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average due to climate change. July also saw two of the hottest days on record.

Copernicus attributes the high temperatures largely to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-based industries and announced that the oceans, normally unaffected by El Niño, have seen an unusual increase in temperatures.

Julien Nicolas, a climate researcher at Copernicus, told Reuters, "El Niño is over but this magnitude of global temperature increases, the big picture is quite similar to where we were a year ago. We're not done with temperature records causing heat waves. We know with very high confidence that this long-term warming trend can be attributed to human influence on the climate."

Above-average temperatures were recorded in southern and eastern Europe, the western United States, western Canada, most of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and eastern Antarctica.

Northwestern Europe, western Antarctica, parts of the United States, South America and Australia saw near-average or below-average temperatures.

Reuters also reminded that July 2024 was also wetter than average in northern Europe and southeastern Turkey, while drought warnings continued in southern and eastern Europe.

Arctic sea ice declined by 7% below average, more than in 2022 and 2023, although not as severe as the record 14% decline in 2020. Antarctic sea ice was the second lowest in July, 11% below average, compared to a 15% decline in July last year.

Global sea temperatures continued to hover near record highs, with this July just 0.1 degrees Celsius below July last year, ending a streak of 15 consecutive months of new records.