United States: Earth has been experiencing record-breaking heat for over a year, with June continuing this trend, according to the European climate service Copernicus. Scientists hope that the record-setting heat will end soon, but the climate chaos it brings might not stop.
Heat Records Persist for Over a Year
June was the 13th month in a row with record-high global temperatures and the 12th month in a row where the world was 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than before industrial times.
As reported by U.S. News, “It’s a stark warning that we are getting closer to this fundamental limit set by the Paris Agreement,” Copernicus senior climate scientist Nicolas Julien said in an interview. “The global temperature continues to increase at a rapid pace.”
Warnings from Climate Scientists
That 1.5 degrees temperature mark is significant because that’s the warming limit nearly almost all the countries in the world and agreed upon in the 2015 Paris climate agreement, though Julien and other meteorologists have said the threshold won’t be crossed until there’s a long- term period of that extended heat and as much as of 20 to 30 years.
“This is more than a statistical oddity and it highlights a continuing shift in our climate Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement.
June 2024 Temperature Highlights
The globe for June 2024 averaged almost 62 degrees which is 16.66 degrees Celsius and 1.2 degrees (0.67 Celsius) above the 30-year average for the month and according to the Copernicus. However, it broke the record for the hottest June, set a year earlier by a quarter of a degree which is 0.14 degrees Celsius and is the third hottest of any of the month recorded in the Copernicus records, which goes back to 1940, behind only the last July and last August.
Impact of Cleaner Air Regulations
Scientists said that cleaner air over Atlantic shipping channels, due to new regulations, reduces pollution particles that usually cool the air a bit and really makes the warming effect of greenhouse gases more noticeable among all. Climate scientist Tianle Yuan explains that as this “masking effect” gets smaller, the rate of warming could temporarily increase. Zeke Hausfather, who is another climate scientist, says there are 95 percent of chance that 2024 will be the hottest year since records began.
However, some experts, like Julien from Copernicus, think July 2024 might be more excellent than July 2023. Andrew Weaver warns that without urgent action to reduce emissions,
Earth could warm by 3 degrees Celsius. He also fears that people might forget the danger once the record heat streak ends and winter comes.