Copernicus: 2024 more likely than ever to become the hottest year on record

July 2024, while slightly cooler than July 2023, is increasingly likely to be part of the warmest year on record, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). July 2024 was marked by record heatwaves in Greece, Japan, and Morocco, where temperatures exceeded 48 ° C, causing 21 deaths in 24 hours. Globally, the average surface temperature was 16.91 ° C, just 0.04 ° C shy of the July 2023 record.

Significant heat was felt in western U.S., Canada, much of Africa,  Middle East, Asia and parts of Antarctica. Europe experienced its second warmest July, following 2010. Globally, July 2024 was 1.48 ° C above the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900, continuing a trend of extreme weather attributed to climate change.

July saw devastating heatwaves across Central Europe and the Mediterranean, unprecedented floods in Pakistan and China, cyclones in the Caribbean, deadly landslides in India and massive wildfires in California. Additionally, global ocean temperatures remained alarmingly high, with July 2024 recording the second highest sea surface temperature in history, at 20.88 ° C, just below July 2023.

Despite the expected cooling effect from the transition to La Niña, experts forecast that 2024 is likely to surpass 2023 as the hottest year ever recorded, continuing the alarming trend of global warming.

(File photo/EPA