July breaks heat records

Copernicus performs satellite observations of Earth and used a combination of on-the-ground observations, satellite data, and climate modeling to produce estimates of temperatures across the planet dating back decades.

Researchers have found the temperature for the first 23 days of July averaged 16.95 degrees Celsius (62.51 degrees Fahrenheit), breaking the previous record of 16.63 degrees Celsius (61.93 degrees Fahrenheit) which was set in July 2019. Copernicus has also found that June was the hottest June on record by a "substantial margin."

Copernicus's data tracks back to 1940, but many scientists, including those at Copernicus, say it's very likely these temperatures are the hottest the Earth has seen in 120,000 years.

"These are the hottest temperatures in human history," said Samantha Burgess, deputy director at Copernicus.

"Not only will it be the warmest July, but the warmest month ever in terms of absolute global mean temperature," said Karsten Haustein, from the University of Leipzig. "We may have to go back thousands if not tens of thousands of years to find similarly warm conditions on our planet."

'The era of global boiling'

According to Burgess, human-caused climate change is the main driver of the record-breaking heat. "The global air temperature is directly proportional to the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," she said.

Burgess added that the arrival of El Niño — a natural climate fluctuation — hasn't had a major impact on temperatures since it's still in a developmental phase, but it will likely play a bigger role next year, which could lead to even higher temperatures.

"The onset of El Niño will greatly increase the likelihood of breaking temperature records and triggering more extreme heat in many parts of the world and in the ocean," said Petteri Taalas, secretary-general of WMO.

"The extreme weather which has affected many millions of people in July is unfortunately the harsh reality of climate change and a foretaste of the future," Taalas added. "The need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever before. Climate action is not a luxury but a must."

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urged world leaders to do more to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases in light of the record-breaking heat numbers.

"Climate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning," he said. "The era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived."

"We are in uncharted territory as far as humans on this planet are concerned, so our records are falling with increasing frequency and that's exactly what we expect to — and what we've been predicting would — happen," said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University.

"The reason that setting new temperature records is a big deal is that we are now being challenged to find ways to survive through temperatures hotter than any of us have ever experienced before," said Andrea Dutton, a climate scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Soaring temperatures place ever increasing strains not just on power grids and infrastructure, but on human bodies that are not equipped to survive some of the extreme heat we are already experiencing."

Kim Cobb, a climate scientist at Brown University, said the July temperature record was "eye-popping" but added that it's a record that will be broken again.

"It is scary to remember that in another decade, this will be viewed as a relatively cool year, most likely," she said, adding, "if people don't like what they're seeing this summer, they will be in for quite a shock at the higher warming levels we're heading for." (Paddison, CNN, 7/27; McGrath/Poynting, BBC, 7/27; Borenstein, Associated Press, 7/27; Bush, NBC News, 7/27; Clifford, CNBC, 7/27)

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