LONDON: As the planet continues to reel under the various effects of worsening climate change, rising temperatures broke the record for the hottest day on record for the second day in a row.
Preliminary data from a European Union monitoring agency show that Monday (July 22) was the hottest day on record as the global average surface air temperature exceeded that recorded on Sunday (July 21).
The Copernicus Climate Change Service, which has been tracking temperature patterns since 1940, said the temperature was recorded at 17.15C, 0.06C higher than that recorded on Sunday.
The record was last set for four consecutive days in early July 2023. Before that, the hottest day had been in August 2016.
“Last Monday could have set a new world record for the warmest absolute global average temperature on record – by this I mean a temperature going back tens of thousands of years,” said climate scientist Karsten Haustein of the University of Leipzig in Germany.
In recent days, cities in Japan, Indonesia and China have recorded record temperatures. Gulf countries have also suffered sweltering heat, with heat indices (taking into account humidity) exceeding 60°C.
Meanwhile, temperatures in some parts of Europe have exceeded 45°C.
According to scientists, climate change, caused by the burning of fossil fuels, is responsible for this record. But unlike last year, when climate change combined with the El Niño weather phenomenon to set a new daily record, this is not the case this July.
Haustein said it was “remarkable” that the record had been broken now that the world was in neutral territory and no longer feeling the impact of El Niño.
