Global temperatures set new record in July, may be behind extreme weather events

After a record-setting June, July has got off to a scorching start, according to data analysed by World Meteorology Organisation (WMO), the United Nations’ agency that monitors the weather. The agency also believes that record-high temperatures may be behind the rising number of extreme weather events.

According to a provisional analysis, the average global temperature on 7 July was 17.24 degrees Celsius, 0.3°C above the previous record set on 16 August 2016 – another El Niño year, said the agency. Global sea surface temperatures had been at record high for the time of the year both in May and June.

The latest analysis comes close on the heels of a report from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service – a close collaborator with the World Meteorological Organization – showing that the average temperature in June 2023 was just over 0.5°C above the 1991-2020 average, and was higher than the previous record of June 2019.
“The WMO and wider scientific community are closely watching these dramatic changes in different components of the climate system, and sea surface temperatures,” said Dr Omar Baddour, chief of climate monitoring at WMO at a media briefing.

“According to various datasets from our partners in different parts of the world, the first week of July set a new record in terms of daily temperatures,” he told a media briefing.

Experts at WMO trace the high temperatures to the El Nino-warming of the pacific ocean – which fuels heat on land and oceans, leading to extreme temperatures and marine heatwaves.

This comes with a cost. It will impact fisheries distribution and the ocean circulation in general, with knock-on effects or cumulative effects on the climate.

For example, June 2023 was drier than average over much of north America, conditions which favoured and sustained severe wildfires. It was wetter than average over most of southern Europe, western Iceland and north-western Russia, with heavy precipitation leading to floods.

“The North Atlantic is one of the key drivers of extreme weather. With the warming of the Atlantic there is an increasing likelihood of more hurricanes and tropical cyclones. North Atlantic sea surface temperature is associated with heavy rain or drought in West Africa,” said Dr Baddour.