July Confirmed To Be The Hottest Month Ever, Asia Faced More Brunt

Scientists have confirmed that July was the hottest month ever on record and that too by a wide margin. 

Scientists said that July's global average temperature was 16.95*C, which was a third of a degree Celsius higher than the previous record in 2019. 

The record has "dire consequences for both people and the planet", said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the European Union's (EU) Copernicus Climate Change Service, which released these findings on Tuesday. 

July witnessed heatwaves throughout North America, Europe, and several parts of Asia. There have been reports that Asia faced more brunt from the heatwaves in July as the rise in temperature in the continent was higher than the West. 

What did the EU scientists find?

The scientists at EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service found that July was the hottest month every on record. 

The margin between July and the previous hottest month ever —of a third of a degree celsius— was also notably higher. 

"Normally global temperature records are broken by hundredths or a tenth of a degree, so this margin is unusual," notes Associated Press (AP).

Before the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) of the United Nations (UN) had also made a similar announcement. The  confirmation now by the Copernicus Climate Change Service has made it official. 

"The month was 1.5*Celsius (2.7*Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times...Last month (July) was so hot, it was .7*Celsius (1.3*Fahrenheit) hotter than the average July from 1991 to 2020, Copernicus said. The world's oceans were half a degree Celsius (0.9*Fahrenheit) warmer than the previous 30 years and the North Atlantic was 1.05*Celsius (1.9*Fahrenheit) hotter than average. Antarctica set record lows for sea ice, 15 per cent below average for this time of year," reported AP.

Independent scientists, however, say July was actually the hottest in a far longer time period — as Copernicus' records go back only to 1940.

“It's a stunning record and makes it quite clearly the warmest month on Earth in 10,000 years,” said Stefan Rahmstorf, a climate scientist at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Research in Germany to AP, who was not part of the Copernicus team.

Rahmstorf cited studies that use tree rings and other proxies that show present times are the warmest since the beginning of the Holocene Epoch, about 10,000 years ago, reported AP, adding he also said that and before the Holocene started there was an ice age, so it would be logical to even say this is the warmest record for 120,000 years.

Asia faced more brunt

Even as North America and Europe faced the brunt of the hottest month ever, but so did Asia. There are reports saying that Asia, in fact, had it worse than the West.

While a highest jump in temperature was 1.05*C in the Atlantic in the West in July, the temperature rise in Asia had already crossed 2*C earlier this year, rerooted BBC News. 

"A recent report, compiled by nearly two dozen climate scientists, found that temperatures earlier this year were up by 2C in many parts of Asia, a region home to more than 4.5 billion people.And the impact of this year's extreme heat has been felt in countries across the continent," reported BBC.

Japan and South Korea, countries not usually associated with heatwaves, have recorded heatwaves and heat-related incidents heat strokes have risen in these countries. China has also recorded its hottest day ever. A town in China's Xinjiang province recorded highest-ever temperature of 52*C (125*F) in July and Beijing recorded its hottest June day in more than 60 years at 51*C (123.8*F barely a month ago. 

The BBC notes, "The lack of resources, when compared with the West, also worsen the impact of heatwaves and temperature rise in Asia. With poor resources, heat action plans are hard to implement in several regions in Asia. Disparities also exist in the region. In South East Asia's wealthier countries like Singapore for instance, infrastructures exist to shield people from the heat, like air-conditioning in malls and homes. The country also plans to build more green spaces, covered walkways, and change building designs to offer more shelter. However, poorer countries in the same region are unable to implement similar measures. Even when plans to tackle heat exist, they are typically underfunded and often overlook poorer communities."