Monday was the hottest day ever measured globally, exceeding the 17 ° C average mark for the first time, according to initial measurements Tuesday from an American meteorological organization.
The average daily air temperature on the surface of the planet on July 3 was measured at 17.01 ° C by an organization dependent on the United States Agency for Oceanic and Atmospheric Observation (NOAA).
This measurement exceeds the previous daily record (16.92 ° C) set on July 24, 2022, according to this data from NOAA’s National Environmental Prediction Centers, which dates back to 1979.
The air temperature, which fluctuates between around 12°C and 17°C daily average during the year, averaged 16.20°C at the beginning of July between 1979 and 2000.
This record, which has yet to be corroborated by other measurements, could be quickly broken as the Northern Hemisphere begins the summer season and the average global temperature generally continues to rise until late July-early August.
Already in early June, global average temperatures were the hottest ever recorded for this period by the European service Copernicus, beating previous records by a “substantial margin”.
These observations are a likely foretaste of the El Niño phenomenon — usually associated with rising global temperatures — coupled with the effects of human-induced global warming.
On June 8, NOAA announced the official arrival of El Niño, assuring that it “could lead to new temperature records” in certain regions.
In June, several records were broken in Asia and the United Kingdom had its hottest June on record while Mexico was hit by an extreme heat wave.
According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO, a specialized agency of the UN), there is a 66% chance that the annual mean global temperature near the surface will temporarily exceed pre-industrial levels by more than 1.5°C for at least least one year between 2023 and 2027.
The year 2022 was the eighth consecutive year in which global annual temperatures were at least 1 degree higher than levels observed between 1850 and 1900.