Newly released data from the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service found that June and August were the hottest months on record, and August marked the 13th time global temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, the temperature the Paris Climate Agreement says is the threshold for catastrophic warming.
It’s less clear whether July broke records, with Copernicus putting the month at slightly cooler than last year while the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration determined it was a fraction of a degree hotter.
Overall, the three-month period from June to August this year was 0.69 degrees hotter than the average for 1991-2020 and 0.03 degrees above the previous record held by summer of 2023, according to the E.U. agency.
Copernicus also determined that the global average temperature for the 12-month period ending in August was the highest of any 12 months on record, measured as 0.76 degrees above the average for 1991-2020 and 1.64 degrees hotter than the pre-industrial average, the latter half of the 19th century.
Compared to previous long-term averages, the calendar year so far has seen temperatures 0.70 degrees above the average for 1991-2020 and 0.23 degrees hotter than the first eight months of 2023.
The data indicate 2024 will likely be the warmest year on record.
Read more at TheHill.com.
