Brussels: According to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), August 2024 has tied with August 2023 as the warmest August on record globally. The average surface air temperature reached 16.82 degrees Celsius, 0.71 degrees Celsius higher than the average August temperature between 1991 and 2020.
According to the Xinhua news agency, August 2024 was 1.51 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial (1850-1900) levels. This marks the 13th time in the last 14 months that the global average surface air temperature has risen by 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a critical threshold set by the Paris Agreement.
Meanwhile, year-to-date data show that 2024 is on track to be the warmest year on record, with the global average temperature from January to August 0.7 degrees Celsius higher than the 1991-2020 average, the highest on record for this period.
C3S emphasised that the average temperature anomaly for the rest of the year would need to fall by at least 0.3 degrees Celsius to avoid topping 2023 as the warmest year, a highly implausible scenario based on historical records.
“During the past three months of 2024, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest boreal summer on record. This string of record temperatures is increasing the likelihood of 2024 being the hottest year on record,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of C3S.
Burgess emphasised that this summer’s temperature-related extreme events foreshadow more severe and destructive climate impacts unless urgent measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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–IANS
