2024 sees second-hottest July on record: EU report

July 2024 turned out to be the second-hottest July the earth has seen, only slightly cooler than July 2023, according to a report released Thursday by the European Union's climate monitor.

That's despite this July ending a 13-month streak of monthly temperature records.

"The streak of record-breaking months has come to an end, but only by a whisker," said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

Burgess said the overall context has not changed and that the climate continues to warm despite the broken streak.

 "The devastating effects of climate change started well before 2023 and will continue until global greenhouse gas emissions reach net zero," she said. 

What does the data say?

July 2024 was 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial reference of 1850-1990, according to the monthly report. The last 12 months were 1.64 C above the pre-industrial average due to climate change.

Global temperatures were 0.7 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average from January to July, the report said — "making it increasingly likely that 2024 is going to be the warmest year on record."

Southern and eastern parts of Europe, the western US, western Canada, most of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and eastern Antarctica saw above-average temperatures during July.

Near or below-average temperatures were seen in northwestern Europe, western Antarctica, parts of the United States, South America and Australia. 

No relief ahead

Scientists noted that air temperatures over the ocean remained unusually high over many regions even as the El Nino weather pattern ebbed to its opposite La Nina, which has a cooling effect.

"This El Nino has ended but this magnitude of global temperature rises, the big picture is quite similar to where we were a year ago," Julien Nicolas, a climate researcher with Copernicus, told Reuters news agency.

"We are not done with temperature records causing heatwaves... We know this long-term warming trend can be with a very high level of confidence related to the human impact on climate," he said.

"That raises the question of what is happening to the ocean outside this natural climate pattern like El Nino or La Nina events. Are there shifts in the ocean currents?" Nicolas said. 

mk/sms (AFP, Reuters, AP)