Climate crisis and global warming are a reality ascertained by the continued highest heat temperatures ever recorded. According to three leading international datasets, the extended streak of extraordinarily high temperatures has continued and the years so far have been the warmest on record for the globe.
According to the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NASA, and the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, last month was the warmest August on record, marking the 15th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures, which is a record.
The northern hemisphere summer was the hottest on record and July saw the hottest day on record. Global temperatures in both July and August 2023 and 2024 were well above anything recorded before.
The World Meteorological Organization report shows that 2023 is the warmest year on record. The organization will issue the preliminary State of the Global Climate 2024 report for the UN Climate Change Conference, COP29, in Azerbaijan in November.
Extreme weather – including intense heat, extreme precipitation, and drought – accompanied by floods and wildfires – continued to cause devastation and despair in many countries in August.
Temperatures are just one of the indicators of climate change. Others include ocean heat, sea ice, and glaciers.
Global sea ice extent was the second lowest on record in August – with Arctic sea ice being the fourth lowest and Antarctic sea ice the second lowest on record, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service and NOAA reports.
The global ocean was the second warmest on record for August. Near-average sea surface temperatures (SSTs) were observed across most of the equatorial Pacific Ocean, with forecasts suggesting a possible transition to La Niña during the northern hemisphere autumn, but sea surface temperatures across the oceans remained unusually high over many regions.
August temperatures were above average across much of the global land surface except for Alaska, eastern Russia, southern South America, central Africa, and west-central Asia.
