Tuesday was the hottest day on record as the global average temperature rose to a record high for the second straight day, according to preliminary readings by US meteorologists released on Wednesday.
The average daily air temperature on Earth’s surface reached 17.18 degrees Celsius (62.92 Fahrenheit), according to data from an organization affiliated with the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
That far exceeded even that Record measurement from the previous daya new sign of the effect of climate change powered by burning fossil fuels.
The global average temperature reached 17 degrees Celsius for the first time on Monday, according to data from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Predictionwhose records go back to 1979.
This surpassed the previous daily record of 16.92 degrees Celsius from July 24, 2022.
For comparison, the global average air temperature, which fluctuates between 12 degrees Celsius and just under 17 degrees Celsius every day of the year, averaged 16.2 degrees in early July from 1979 to 2000.
This reported record has yet to be confirmed by other measurements, but could be broken again as summer begins in the northern hemisphere.
The EU’s climate monitoring unit, Copernicus, confirmed in a statement to AFP on Wednesday that Monday was the hottest day on its record since 1940. She has not yet been able to confirm the data for Tuesday.
The average global temperature typically continues to rise until late July or early August
Even last month, average global temperatures in early June were the warmest ever recorded by Copernicus.
With the onset of an El Nino weather phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, temperatures are likely to rise even further above historical averages next year, according to the World Meteorological Organization confirmed on Monday is now underway.
In addition, human activities – mainly the burning of fossil fuels – continue to emit around 40 billion tons of CO2, warming the planet2 into the atmosphere every year.
