Sunday, July 21st was the hottest day ever recorded, with Monday set to break the short-lived record according to preliminary data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which has tracked such global weather patterns since 1940.
The global average surface air temperature on Sunday reached 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit)—slightly higher than the previous record set last July of 17.08 C (62.74 F)—as heatwaves scorched large swathes of the United States, Europe and Russia.
Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus service, said that it was possible this week could eclipse Sunday’s record as heatwaves continue to sizzle across the world.
“When you have these peaks, they tend to cluster together,” he said.
Last year saw four days in a row break the record, from July 3rd through July 6th, as climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, drove extreme heat across the northern hemisphere.
Hottest day ever marginally higher than last year
While Sunday’s record was only marginally higher than last year’s reading, “What is remarkable is how different the temperature of the last 13 months is with respect to the previous records,” said Buontempo.
Every month since June 2023 has now ranked as the planet’s hottest since records began, compared with the corresponding month in previous years.
Some scientists have suggested 2024 could surpass 2023 as the hottest year since records began, as climate change and the El Nino natural weather phenomenon—which ended in April—have pushed temperatures ever higher this year.
“As a consequence of the increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we are bound to see new records being broken in the next few months, in the next few years,” Buontempo said.
Health impacts of extended high temperatures
Greek scientists have warned of the dangers for human health as a result of the extended heat wave affecting the country.
Talking to the Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA), the head of research at the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) Institute of Environmental and Sustainable Development Studies, Dimitra Founda, explained that this may lead to conditions that are dangerous for health.
According to Founda, the World Health Organisation has estimated that between 2000 and 2019, there have been approximately 489,000 heat-related deaths per year, while another study found that the number of people exposed to conditions of extreme heat and heatwaves has increased by about 125 million between 2000 and 2016.
“In the coming decades, approximately 30 percent of the global population will be exposed to conditions of extreme heat,” she said.
The problem was especially acute in large and very built-up urban areas, where the thermal load was even higher and temperatures remained high even at night, Founda explained, noting that such conditions overpower the human body’s ability to thermoregulate and maintain a balance between heat generated within the body and that outside.
This creates heat stress, in which levels of humidity, wind speeds and heat radiation all play an important role, she added.
What causes particular concern among scientists is the prevalence of high temperatures at night; Founda cites a German study finding an increase in strokes caused by high night-time temperatures, suggesting that the impact of heat on human health may have been underestimated.
