June 2024 Becomes Warmest Month In History: EU Climate Agency
This marks the 12th consecutive month of such high temperatures, a pattern that started in June last year.
The European Union's climate agency, Copernicus Climate Change Service, announced on Monday that June was the warmest month on record, with global temperatures consistently exceeding the 1.5-degree Celsius pre-industrial average for the past year. This marks the 12th consecutive month of such high temperatures, a pattern that started in June last year.
According to C3S scientists, every month since June 2023 has set a new temperature record. In January 2024, the world completed a full year with mean surface air temperatures above the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold set in the 2015 Paris Agreement, which aims to limit global warming to avoid severe climate impacts. However, breaching this limit on a long-term basis, defined over 20 to 30 years, is yet to be realised.
The average global surface temperature has already risen by about 1.2 degrees Celsius since the 1850-1900 period due to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane. This warming trend is linked to extreme weather events, including droughts, wildfires, and floods.
June 2024 saw the highest-ever recorded surface air temperature for the month, averaging 16.66 degrees Celsius, which is 0.67 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average and 0.14 degrees Celsius above the previous record set in June 2023. The month also recorded the highest sea surface temperatures for June.
The C3S stated that this continuous record-breaking trend, influenced by the 2023-24 El Nino event and anthropogenic climate change, signals a significant and ongoing shift in the climate.
"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.
Over the past 12 months (July 2023-June 2024), the global average temperature was 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. June also brought record-breaking heat, floods, and storms to various countries.
An analysis by Climate Central revealed that over 60% of the global population faced extreme heat between June 16-24, with climate change making such conditions at least three times more likely. The extreme heat impacted 619 million people in India, 579 million in China, 231 million in Indonesia, 206 million in Nigeria, and millions more across Brazil, Bangladesh, the US, Europe, Mexico, Ethiopia, and Egypt.
Northwest India experienced its warmest June since 1901, with severe heatwaves causing over 40,000 suspected heatstroke cases and more than 100 deaths, according to the India Meteorological Department. The heat strained water supplies and power grids, particularly in Delhi, and several states recorded significantly more heatwave days than usual.
Eleven 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, according to IMD.
Regions with the highest above-average temperatures included eastern Canada, the western US and Mexico, Brazil, northern Siberia, the Middle East, northern Africa, and western Antarctica.
(With inputs from PTI.)
