The European Union (EU) climate agency, Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) confirmed on Monday (8) that June was the warmest on record. It also marked the 12th consecutive month of global temperatures reaching 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.
According to scientists at C3S, every month since June last year has been the warmest on record for that particular month. In January, the world completed an entire year with the mean surface air temperature exceeding the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold. June marked the 12th consecutive month with monthly average temperatures above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.
At the 2015 UN climate talks in Paris, world leaders committed to limiting the global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial period to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. However, a permanent breach of the 1.5-degree Celsius limit specified in the Paris Agreement refers to long-term warming over a 20 to 30-year period.
The Earth’s global surface temperature has increased by about 1.2 degrees Celsius compared to the average temperature in the period from 1850 to 1900. This rise is mainly due to the rapidly increasing levels of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere. This warming is believed to be the cause of record droughts, wildfires, and floods around the world.
New data shows that June 2024 was the warmest June on record. The average surface air temperature was 16.66 degrees Celsius, which is 0.67 degrees Celsius higher than the average temperature for June from 1991 to 2020, and 0.14 degrees Celsius higher than the previous record set in June 2023.
“The month was 1.5 degrees Celsius above the estimated June average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period, making it the 12th consecutive month to reach or break the 1.5-degree threshold,” C3S said in a statement. It was also the 13th consecutive month of record-high temperatures, a result of the combined effect of the 2023-24 El Nino event and human-caused climate change. While unusual, a similar streak of monthly global temperature records happened previously in 2015-16.
“This is more than a statistical oddity and highlights a large and continuing shift in our climate. Even if this specific streak of extremes ends at some point, we are bound to see new records being broken as the climate continues to warm. This is inevitable, unless we stop adding greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and the oceans,” said Carlo Buontempo, the director of C3S.
The European climate agency said the global average temperature for the last 12 months (July 2023-June 2024) is the highest on record, at 0.76 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average and 1.64 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average. The world’s sea surface in June was also the highest ever recorded for the month. Several countries experienced record-breaking heat and devastating floods and storms in June.
According to an analysis by Climate Central, an independent group of scientists and communicators based in the United States, more than 60 per cent of the world population faced extreme heat that was made at least three times more likely by climate change during June 16-24.
Climate Central said the blistering heat in June impacted 619 million (61.9 crore) people in India, 579 million (57.9 crore) in China, 231 million (23.1 crore) in Indonesia, 206 million (20.6 crore) in Nigeria, 176 million (17.6 crore) in Brazil, 171 million (17.1 crore) in Bangladesh, 165 million (16.5 crore) in the US, 152 million (15.2 crore) in Europe, 123 million (12.3 crore) in Mexico, 121 million (12.1 crore) in Ethiopia and 103 million (10.3 crore) in Egypt. According to the India Meteorological Department (IMD), northwest India recorded its warmest June since 1901.
India, which experienced one of its hottest and longest heatwaves, recorded more than 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases and over 100 heat-related deaths. The intense heat overwhelmed the water supply system and power grids, with Delhi grappling with a severe water crisis.
According to the IMD, 11 states recorded 20 to 38 heatwave days — up to four times the usual number of such days — during the April-to-June period. The mercury breached 50 degrees Celsius in parts of Rajasthan, with night temperatures hovering around 35 degrees Celsius in many places.
Temperatures were most above average over eastern Canada, the western United States and Mexico, Brazil, northern Siberia, the Middle East, northern Africa, and western Antarctica.
