The summary
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Monday was the hottest day ever recorded on Earth, breaking the record set just one day earlier.
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The global average temperature reached 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 Fahrenheit) on Monday, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
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In addition to the effects of climate change, this summer was especially hot because of El Niño.
Sunday record as the hottest day on record on Earth it lasted only one day.
According to preliminary data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Servicethe global average temperature reached 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, surpassing the previous day’s record of 17.09 C.
In other words, the planet had the two hottest days in a row this week.
Warmer-than-normal winter temperatures in Antarctica helped push the globe to new highs, according to Copernicus.
The records represent a milestone that climate scientists don’t expect to last long, as humans continue to fuel climate change by pumping fossil fuel pollution into the atmosphere.
Bob Henson, meteorologist and climate writer for Yale Climate Connections, said that while he wasn’t surprised that the records were broken, the temperature spikes during the past two years were still “surprising.”
“Say your body temperature went up half a degree, that wouldn’t worry you if you were at 98.6 F, but if you were already at 103 F, that extra half degree is really disturbing,” he said.
People have been feeling the effects of extreme heat across the world this week and throughout the summer. California faced triple-digit temperatures in many areas on Monday, contributing to forest fire concerns in the region. Temperatures rose to 118 degrees in Al Dhaid, a city northeast of Dubai. And southern Europe continued to swelter, with parts of Spain and Portugal under heat warnings.
In addition to the effects of climate change, this summer has been especially hot due to El Niño, a natural circulation pattern that brings warmer sea surface temperatures to the eastern tropical Pacific and can raise global temperatures.
Henson expects La Niña, which is associated with colder temperatures, to take effect later this year and subsequently lower average temperatures.
“Even if next year doesn’t bring similar records, we know what the long-term forecast is, and that is getting hotter and hotter over time,” Henson said, adding, “When you turn on the burners and leave them on for a century, you will see the water boil.”
Copernicus uses climate reanalysis data, which combines real-world observations and computer models of atmospheric circulation, to monitor global temperature. The program’s records date back to 1940. Until Sunday, the record for the hottest day was 16.8°C, on August 12, 2016.
Monday’s record could still be broken.
“The event is still ongoing and it is possible that the peak date may still change, but our data suggests that we could see slightly cooler temperatures in the coming days,” Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a statement. declaration.
This article was originally published in NBCNews. with
