The European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) announced the end of a 13-month string of global climate records.
The average temperature in July 2024 was slightly below last year’s July, leading scientists to conclude that the impact of the waning El Niño, which was the root cause of the climate anomalies, has waned.
This July was the second warmest on record for the agency, behind July 2023, with an average temperature of 16.91 °C, 1.2 degrees above the 30-year average for the month. However, the hottest days were last month, with temperatures rising to 17.16 °C on July 22 and 23.
Above-average temperatures were recorded in southern and eastern Europe, the western United States, western Canada, much of Africa, the Middle East, Asia and eastern Antarctica. Temperatures near or below average were observed in northwestern Europe, western Antarctica, parts of the United States, South America and Australia.
July 2024 was also wetter than average in northern Europe and southeastern Turkey, while drought warnings persisted in southern and eastern Europe.
The amount of sea ice in the Arctic declined more than in 2022 and 2023 to 7 per cent below average, although not as much as the record 14 per cent decline in 2020. Antarctic sea ice levels in July were the second highest on record and 11 per cent below average, down from 15 per cent in July last year.
Ocean temperatures, which absorb 90 per cent of excess human-caused heat, were also close to the highest July temperature ever recorded at 20.88 degrees Celsius, just 0.01 degrees lower than in July 2023. However, Copernicus researchers noted that “air temperatures over the ocean remained unusually warm in many regions” despite the shift from the El Niño weather pattern, which has contributed to a sharp rise in global temperatures, to its opposite, the La Niña cooling.
