July 2023 Records Earth's Hottest Week Ever; New Study Shows Over 60,000 Died In Europe Heatwave Last Year

The world just hit the hottest week on record early this month with land and sea temperatures seeing an exponenstial rise as the World Meteorological Organization on Monday flagged the climatic condition having "potentially devastating impacts on ecosystems and the environment".

July’s record heat followed the hottest June at the onset of the developments of El Nino that could further fuel the land and ocean heat, causing marine heatwaves. Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest extent for June since satellite observations began, at 17 per cent below average, breaking the previous June record by a substantial margin.

World Meteorological Organisation  (WMO) in collaboration with other monitoring partners across the globe, stated that the first week of July set a new record in terms of daily temperatures Preliminary data and analysis by the WMO estimate that the record-breaking temperature is a symptom of the far-reaching impact of human-induced climate change.

Prof. Christopher Hewitt, WMO Director of Climate Services warned that this was worrying news for the planet. “We are in uncharted territory and we can expect more records to fall as El Niño develops further and these impacts will extend into 2024,” he said.

Hottest June

The temperature in of June 2023 was just over 0.5°C above the 1991-2020 average, smashing the previous record of June 2019. A report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) funded by the European Union, a close collaborator with the WMO, showed that high temperatures swayed across northwest Europe and parts of Canada, the United States, Mexico, Asia, and eastern Australia were significantly warmer than normal.

The report further noted that in May, sea surface temperatures went comparatively higher than any previous May, a trend that continued through June, with the global ocean seeing higher sea surface temperatures than any previous June on record. And due to the development of an El Nino-like situation, the temperature of the North Atlantic Ocean saw an exponential rise.

In context to the sea surface temperatures, the report further noted that extreme marine heatwaves were observed around Ireland, the United Kingdom, and in the Baltic Sea with the El Niño continuing to strengthen over the tropical eastern Pacific.

Over 60,000 deaths last year in Europe

In separate research by experts from several health institutes associated with the Europe Union, it has been found that more than 61,600 people died due to heatwave-like conditions between late May 2022 and early September 2022 during Europe’s hottest summer on record.

The study, published on Monday in the journal, Nature Medicine found that Mediterranean countries including Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain saw the highest death rate according to population size. “The Mediterranean is affected by desertification, heat waves are amplified during summer just because of these drier conditions,” said Joan Ballester, a professor at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health and lead of the study.

The most intense heat hit from 18 to 24 July, killing 11,637 people when every week in the summer of 2022,  average temperatures in Europe “uninterruptedly” exceeded the baseline values of the previous three decades.

However, the study also found that among the big figures, only a small share of people died from heat strokes. The rest of the deaths were attributed to the extremely hot weather that makes it difficult for the body from coping with existing health problems like heart and lung disease.

Far-reaching effect of climate change

The growing climate change is causing more deaths as temperatures are rising higher and the heat wave is becoming more severe than ever. With alarming statistics of last year’s deaths, researchers have warned that countries, across the globe, should be reviewing their plans to mitigate climate change as strategies are failing and should be immediately strengthened.

Many scientists have said that climate change is reaching uncharted territory.  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, whose data on climate conditions is considered the gold standard, on Thursday released a statement that said, “We recognize that we are in a warm period due to climate change, and combined with El Nino and hot summer conditions, we’re seeing record warm surface temperatures being recorded at many locations across the globe,’ according to a report by AP. Adding to that and looking at all the latest data and statistics, the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that the latest numbers help prove “that climate change is out of control.”