Heat breaks records: Sunday, July 21, the hottest day in the world since 1940

BERLIN — Global temperatures hit their highest levels on record Sunday, according to preliminary data from Europe’s top climate monitor, another worrying sign of how human-caused climate change is pushing the planet into dangerous new territory, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the EU’s Earth Observation program, indicated that the planet recorded an average temperature of 17.09 degrees on Sunday, which represents a new record that exceeds the 17.08 degrees of July 6, 2023, EFE added.

Preliminary data indicate that Sunday was the hottest day since at least 1940.

Before July 2023, the previous record for global average daily temperature was 16.8 degrees on August 13, 2016.

Since July 3, 2023, there have been 57 days that surpassed that previous record, distributed between July and August 2023 and during June and July so far in 2024, EFE adds.

“On July 21, C3S recorded a new record for global average daily temperature. What is truly astonishing is the vast difference between the temperature of the past 13 months and previous temperature records. We are now in truly uncharted territory, and as the climate continues to warm, we are likely to see new records in the coming months and years,” said C3S Director Carlos Buontempo, according to a statement.

Analysis of years with global annual daily maximum temperatures shows that both 2023 and 2024 recorded annual maximum temperatures substantially higher than those reported in previous years.

Another sign of the global warming trend is the fact that the 10 years with the highest average daily temperatures are the last ten years, from 2015 to 2024.

Scientists have been tracking global temperatures only for the past few centuries. However, there is good reason to believe that Sunday was the warmest day on Earth since the beginning of the last Ice Age more than 100,000 years ago, The Post says.— EFE/Washington Post

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Paleoclimatic scientists

Research by paleoclimate scientists — who use tree rings, ice cores, lake sediments and other materials to understand past environments — suggests that recent warmth would have been nearly impossible during the last stretch of geologic time.

Record temperatures

According to the National Centers for Environmental Information, 550 locations around the world have recorded record daily temperatures in the past seven days alone.

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