Summer 2024 was the hottest ever recorded globally, according to the Copernicus observatory

Temperatures observed from June to August make it “increasingly likely that 2024 will be the hottest year on record,” the observatory said.

The year is not over yet, but temperatures recorded across the globe this summer make it “increasingly likely that 2024 will be the hottest year on record”. In his In the latest monthly report published on Friday, September 6, the European Copernicus Observatory announced that the summer of 2024 was the hottest ever measured on the planet.

The average temperature over the period from June to August surpassed the previous record observed in the summer of 2023. “The global average temperature for boreal summer (June to August) 2024 was the highest on record, 0.69°C above the 1991-2020 average for these three months, surpassing the previous record for June to August 2023 (0.66°C)”Copernicus explains.

On a monthly scale, the globe has also experienced “the hottest months of June and August”added Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). With an average global temperature of 16.82°C, August is 1.51°C above pre-industrial levels and 0.71°C above the average for Augusts between 1991 and 2020. Samantha Burgess also cited the record for the hottest day broken on July 22.

“The extreme temperature events seen this summer will only intensify, with more devastating consequences for people and the planet, unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of Copernicus

in a press release

While July was the second warmest month since records began, just behind July 2023, the global average temperature anomaly that has been ongoing since January supports the possibility that 2024 will ultimately break a new record. “The average anomaly for the remaining months of this year would have to drop by at least 0.30°C so that 2024 is no warmer than 2023.”explains Copernicus, adding that “this never happened”.

In Europe, the average temperature in August was 1.57°C higher than those recorded over the period 1991-2020, “which makes this month the second hottest August ever recorded in Europe after August 2022”specifies Copernicus. The European observatory points out very different situations on the continent with temperatures “above average in southern and eastern Europe, but below average in north-western parts of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Iceland, the west coast of Portugal and southern Norway”.

In the rest of the world, temperatures were well above their averages. “in eastern Antarctica, Texas, Mexico, Canada, northeastern Africa, Iran, China, Japan, and Australia”while they were lower than the values ​​usually recorded “in far eastern Russia and Alaska, the eastern United States, parts of southern South America, Pakistan and the Sahel”Copernicus continues.

Since the 19th century, the average temperature of the Earth has warmed by 1.1°C. Scientists have established with certainty that this increase is due to human activities, consumers of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). This warming, unprecedented in its speed, threatens the future of our societies and biodiversity. But solutions – renewable energies, moderation, reduction of meat consumption – exist. Discover our answers to your questions on the climate crisis.