Sunday was Earth’s hottest day on record, according to a European climate tracking agency.
Based on preliminary data, July 21 clocked a daily global average temperature of 17.09℃ (63℉) slightly exceeding the previous record of 17.08℃ in the same month of 2023.
The EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said it will not be the last record-breaker, as planet-warming fossil fuel pollution drives temperatures to shocking new highs.
Global averages typically peak during the Northern Hemisphere summer, between late June and early August.
The record fell as many countries endure prolonged and brutal heatwaves.
Swathes of southern Europe have been grappling with soaring temperatures and around 100 US cities are experiencing their hottest start to summer.
The agency said on its website: “While it is almost indistinguishable from the previous record, what really stands out is the difference between the temperatures since July 2023 and all previous years.”
Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus, said recent records are “truly straggering”, adding: “We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years.”
June was the 13th straight month of record-warm temperatures for the planet meaning every 30 days for more than a year has been the warmest ever recorded.
A study published last year found 2023 was the hottest summer in 2,000 years.
Despite being based on data from the mid-20th century, the temperature records represent the warmest period the planet has seen in at least 100,000 years, scientists have found from many millennia of climate data extracted from ice cores and coral reefs.
Global temperatures fluctuate based on natural factors including seasons, large-scale climate patterns and solar activity.
Unnatural factors, such as pollution from human activity, including the burning of fossil fuels, are chiefly driving the planet’s temperature steadily upward.
Scientists pegged last year’s record to the coincidence of El Niño, a natural climate pattern in the Pacific Ocean with a warming effect, and fossil fuel pollution, which is trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.
