Monday was the hottest day on record, until Tuesday. Earth's average temperature remained at a record high going into Wednesday, after two days in which the planet reached unofficial records. It's the latest marker in a series of climate-change-driven extremes, reported AP. The average global temperature was 17.18 Celsius , according to data from two climate tracking agencies. That matched a record set Tuesday of 17.18 Celsius, and came after a previous record of 17.01 Celsius was reached on Monday. Experts warned that the warmest days were yet to come.
Scientists have warned for months that 2023 could see record heat as human-caused climate change, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil, warmed the atmosphere. They also noted that La Nina, the natural cooling of the ocean that had acted as a counter to that warming, was giving way to El Nino, the reverse phenomenon marked by warming oceans. The North Atlantic has seen record warmth this year.
Advertisement
“A record like this is another piece of evidence for the now massively supported proposition that global warming is pushing us into a hotter future,” said Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field.
While the figures are not an official US government record, “this is showing us an indication of where we are right now,” said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) chief scientist Sarah Kapnick. NOAA indicated it will take the figures into consideration for the official record calculations. Even though the dataset used for the unofficial record goes back only to 1979, Kapnick said that given other data, the world is likely seeing the hottest day in “several hundred years that we've experienced.”
Advertisement
Scientists generally use much longer measurements — months, years, decades — to track the Earth's warming. But the daily highs are an indication that climate change is reaching uncharted territory. With many places seeing temperatures near 37.8 degrees Celsius, the average temperature records might not seem very hot. But Tuesday's global high was nearly a full degree Celsius higher than the 1979-2000 average, which already tops the 20th- and 19th-century averages. This week also shattered the official records set in August 2016.
High-temperature records were surpassed this week in Quebec and Peru. Beijing reported nine straight days last week when the temperature exceeded 35 degrees Celsius. In the U.S., heat advisories extended across multiple states. Even Antarctica where it is winter at the moment, recorded anomalously high temperatures, breaking the continent's June record.
The planet braces for hotter days in coming days, with odds on July being the hottest month on record, as El Nino has yet to peak. Many fear the worst is yet to come.
