July 2024 becomes the second hottest month ever recorded on the planet

July 2024 became the second hottest month ever recorded on the planet! 

On Thursday, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service marked July 2024 as the second hottest July for the planet on record, breaking a 13-month period when each month was warmest.

According to Reuters, Copernicus attributed the elevated temperatures primarily to greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-based industries and observed an unusual increase in ocean temperatures, even in regions typically unaffected by El Niño.

“This El Nino has ended but this magnitude of global temperature rises, the big picture is quite similar to where we were a year ago,” Julien Nicolas, a climate researcher with Copernicus, told Reuters.

“We are not done with temperature records causing heatwaves … We know this long-term warming trend can be with a very high level of confidence related to the human impact on climate,” she added.

Sources indicate that southern and eastern Europe, the western United States and Canada, most of Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and Eastern Europe experienced above-average temperatures throughout the month.

In contrast, near or below-average temperatures were recorded in northwestern Europe, western Antarctica, parts of the US, South America, and Australia.

July 2024 was wetter than average in Northern Europe and southern Turkey, while drought warnings continued in southern and eastern Europe.

In 2022 and 2023, Arctic sea ice was more than 7% below average, though not as extreme as the record 14% decline in 2020.

Global sea temperatures remain near record highs, with this July just 0.1°C cooler than last July, ending a 15-month streak of consecutive record-breaking temperatures.