The world experienced its hottest northern hemisphere summer on record from June to August, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), Reuters reports.
This summer’s extreme temperatures soared beyond those of any previous summer, driven by a combination of human-caused climate change and the natural El Niño weather phenomenon, which warms the eastern Pacific Ocean. This extreme heat highlights the increasing likelihood that 2024 could surpass 2023 as the hottest year ever recorded.
C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess warned that unless countries significantly cut their greenhouse gas emissions, extreme weather events will become even more severe. Fossil fuel consumption remains the primary cause of climate change, contributing to rising global temperatures and more frequent natural disasters.
Over the summer, climate-related disasters impacted various regions. In Sudan, severe flooding displaced over 300,000 people and triggered a cholera outbreak in an already war-ravaged country. In southern Europe, the islands of Sicily and Sardinia faced prolonged droughts exacerbated by global warming. Additionally, Typhoon Gaemi, intensified by climate change, wreaked havoc across the Philippines, Taiwan, and China, resulting in over 100 deaths.
Despite shifting towards La Niña, a cooler counterpart to El Niño, global sea surface temperatures remained exceptionally high. August temperatures were higher than any previous year except 2023.
