July 21 marks hottest day ever recorded, EU climate monitor reports

Sunday, July 21, was the hottest day ever recorded, according to preliminary data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which has been tracking global weather patterns since 1940.


On Sunday, the global average surface air temperature hit 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit), slightly higher than the previous record of 17.08 C (62.74 F) established last July, when heatwaves scorched significant swaths of the United States, Europe, and Russia.

Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus service, said the start of this week could break Sunday’s record if heatwaves continue to rage over the planet.

“When you have these peaks, they tend to cluster together,” remarked the doctor.

Last year, four days in a row broke the record, from July 3 to July 6, when climate change, fueled by the use of fossil fuels, caused excessive heat over the Northern Hemisphere.

While Sunday’s figure was only slightly higher than last year’s, “What is remarkable is how different the temperature of the last 13 months is with respect to previous records,” said Buontempo.

Since June 2023, every month has been the warmest on record, relative to the equivalent month in previous years.

Some scientists believe 2024 will be the hottest year on record, as climate change and the El Nino natural weather phenomena, which concluded in April, have pushed temperatures even 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 told reporters.

Scientists and environmentalists have long urged world leaders and wealthier countries to phase out and eliminate their dependency on fossil fuels in order to avoid the disastrous repercussions of climate change, such as rising heat waves.