Global daily temperature breaks record for second day in a row

Tuesday, July 4 was the hottest day ever measured globally, easily beating the record set the day before, according to first measurements on Wednesday from an American weather observatory, while global temperatures are almost daily at levels not seen since early June.

A child cools off under a public fountain in Vilnius on June 21, 2023. AP - Mindaugas Kulbis

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On July 4, the average air temperature on the surface of the planet was measured at 17.18 ° C by an organization dependent on the US Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This measurement significantly exceeds the 17.01 ° C measured Monday and which already beat by a significant margin the previous daily record of 16.92 ° C, set on August 14, 2016 and repeated on July 24, 2022, according to this data from NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Prediction, which dates back to 1979.

The air temperature, which fluctuates between about 12°C and 17°C daily average during the year, averaged 16.20°C at the beginning of July between 1979 and 2000 according to this system of measurements. The European Copernicus observatory, contacted by AFP, said Wednesday that their "preliminary measurements for Monday, July 3 confirmed that it was the warmest" of their "ERA5 database since 1940", but that the data were not yet available for July 4.

Temperature rises on the horizon

These records, which have yet to be corroborated, are likely to be broken again soon as the Northern Hemisphere begins its summer season and the average global temperature generally continues to rise until late July-early August. Already at the beginning of June, global average temperatures were the warmest ever recorded for this period by the European Copernicus service, beating previous records by a "substantial margin".

See alsoThe return of the El Niño climate phenomenon

These observations are a likely foretaste of the El Niño phenomenon, which is generally associated with rising global temperatures, coupled with the effects of human-induced global warming. On June 8, NOAA announced the official arrival of El Niño, saying it "could lead to new temperature records" in some areas. In June, several records were broken in Asia and the UK experienced its hottest June on record, while Mexico and Texas were hit by an extreme heat wave.

(

With AFP)

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