June 2024 has been recorded as the hottest June ever recorded, marking the thirteenth consecutive month of record temperatures, according to the European climate service Copernicus.
This period also represented the twelfth consecutive month in which the planet exceeded the pre-industrial era average temperature by 1.5 degrees Celsius.
This is a significant warning signal, dangerously bringing us closer to the limit set by the Paris Agreement.
The 1.5°C mark is crucial as it represents the global warming limit almost universally agreed upon by countries in 2015.
However, this limit will not be considered exceeded until a prolonged period of extended heat occurs, which could take 20 to 30 years.
Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus, emphasized that the current situation is more than just a statistical anomaly and indicates a continuous change in our climate.
The series of record temperatures that has characterized the last year might soon break, but not the climate chaos that has resulted from it.
In June 2024, the global average temperature reached 16.66 degrees Celsius, exceeding the thirty-year average for that month by 0.67°C and beating last year’s June record by 0.14°C.
This month turned out to be the third hottest of all time in the Copernicus records, which date back to 1940, surpassed only by the months of July and August of the previous year.
The high temperatures have had a significant impact on global weather, exacerbating floods, storms, droughts, and heatwaves.
In particular, the heat of June severely affected Southeast Europe, Turkey, Eastern Canada, the Western United States, Mexico, Brazil, Northern Siberia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Western Antarctica.
In Pakistan, doctors had to treat thousands of cases of heatstroke, with temperatures reaching 47°C.
The long-term warming due to greenhouse gases emitted from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas is the main cause of this temperature increase.
Most of the thermal energy trapped by human-caused climate change is absorbed by the oceans, which take longer to warm up and cool down.
The natural phenomenon of El Niño, along with the cooling cycle of La Niña, also affects the global climate.
El Niños tend to raise global temperature records, and the strong El Niño that formed last year ended in June.
Another factor is the reduction of traditional atmospheric pollution particles, such as sulfur, due to maritime shipping regulations, which has slightly masked the much larger effect of warming caused by greenhouse gases.
While global temperatures at the end of June and beginning of July were not as hot as last year, it is likely that July 2024 will be cooler compared to July 2023, thus breaking this series of records.
However, conditions can change rapidly.
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