- The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Wednesday that the global average surface temperature rose to 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday.
- This surpassed the previous record of 17.09°C recorded on Sunday.
- “Sunday’s record as the hottest day ever recorded on Earth continued into Monday,” environmental activist Bill McKibben said via social media.
On July 18, 2024, workers known as “torturers” work in charcoal production in scorching temperatures of over 40 degrees Celsius in Diyarbakir, Turkey.
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The world has recorded its hottest days on record for the second time in just two days, according to the latest data compiled by the European Union’s climate watchdog.
The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said on Wednesday that the global average land surface temperature rose to 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, beating the previous record of 17.09 degrees Celsius recorded on Sunday.
C3S, which has tracked daily global average temperatures since 1940, said Sunday’s record already showed “we are now entering truly uncharted territory”.
The EU’s climate watchdog has warned that new temperature records are inevitable as the planet continues to warm.
Scientists have repeatedly called for urgent and rapid cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to stop the rise in global average temperatures.
The new record high temperature comes amid scorching temperatures across much of the United States, Russia and southern Europe in recent days.
Tourists line up in the shade of the Palacio Real during a sweltering heat wave in Madrid on July 23, 2024.
Oscar del Pozo | AFP | Getty Images
“Sunday’s record as the hottest day ever recorded on Earth continued into Monday,” environmental activist Bill McKibben said via social media.
The climate crisis makes extreme heat much more likely, and the main cause of this is the burning of fossil fuels.