The European service already advanced it at the end of last month, with the measurement of the record temperatures of the first three weeks of July, and now it has confirmed it: July 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded on Earth. The data ratifies what they already said then, that the planet is heading towards “uncharted territory”.
Finally, once all the days are counted, last month, marked by heat waves and fires around the world, was 0.33°C warmer than the month that held the record so far (July 2019, which had reached an average of 16.63°C). The air temperature was also 0.72 °C warmer than the average (1991-2020) for July, as published by the Copernicus Climate Change Service in its bulletin.
“It hasn’t been this hot, according to observational data and paleoclimatology, for the last 120,000 years,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the European Copernicus service, during a press conference on climate change (C3S).
Copernicus data dates back to the 1940s, but scientists are able to fairly accurately describe the climate of even the distant past.
The suspense was limited: As early as July 27, before the month was even out, scientists had deemed it “extremely likely” that July 2023 would be the warmest month on record, across all seasons combined.
An obscure observation that had made the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, say that humanity had left the era of global warming to enter that of “global boiling.”
The oceans also bear witness to this worrying development, with abnormally high surface temperatures since April and record levels in July. Thus, an absolute record was reached on July 30 with 20.96°C and throughout the month, the surface temperature was 0.51°C above the average (1991-2020).
“We have just witnessed new records for both global air and surface ocean temperatures in July. These records have dire consequences for people and the planet exposed to more extreme, frequent and intense events,” said Samantha Burgess .
Signs of global warming caused by human activities – starting with the use of fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) – have appeared simultaneously all over the world.
They are omnipresent: Greece partly devastated by flames as well as Canada, victim in addition to terrible floods, crushing heat in southern Europe, North Africa, the southern United States and part of China, victim shortly after torrential rains. ..
The World Weather Attribution (WWA) scientific network has already concluded that the recent heat waves in Europe and the United States would have been “virtually impossible” without the effect of human activity.
Copernicus also indicates that Antarctic sea ice has reached its lowest level in a month of July since the start of satellite observations, 15% below the average for this month.
“2023 is the third warmest year so far with 0.43°C above the recent average” and “a global average temperature in July of 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”, also notes Samantha Burgess.
This figure of 1.5°C is highly symbolic because it is the most ambitious limit set by the 2015 Paris agreement to limit global warming. However, the threshold to which this international agreement refers refers to the averages of many years and not to a single month.
“While all this is only temporary, it shows the urgency of ambitious efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions, which are the main cause of these records,” concludes Samantha Burgess.
The year 2023 may not have finished breaking records. “For 2023, a relatively warm end to the year is expected due to the development of the El Niño phenomenon,” recalls Copernicus.
This cyclical weather phenomenon over the Pacific is, in fact, synonymous with additional global warming.
“We don’t see a respite from the current hot conditions” and “2024 will probably be one of the hottest years ever,” warned Chris Hewitt, head of climate services at the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
