Topline
Copernicus Climate Change Service has warned that July is likely to be the hottest July ever recorded due to human-caused climate change which has brought disasters like wildfires and searing temperatures.
Key Facts
Data from the EU-funded Copernicus Climate Change Service suggests that the first three weeks of July have seen the hottest average daily global temperatures in history.
Fueling records are heat waves in North America, Asia and Europe.
Due to the warm temperatures, China set a national record temperature on July 16 with a temperature of 125.96 degrees in Turpan city in China’s Xinjiang province, but the average daily temperature in Europe was not broken despite widespread heat waves.
According to Copernicus Climate Change Service, July 6 was the hottest day ever recorded with the global daily average at 62.74 degrees Fahrenheit.
July 6, July 5 followed by July 7 of this year hold the third, fourth and fifth place for hottest temperatures ever recorded.
Key Background
Last month marked the hottest June ever recorded with the global average temperature at 59.9 degrees. Wildfires in Greece and Canada contribute to the rising temperatures. This isn’t the first summer that Europe has had heat waves, last summer Europe had hundreds of heat-related deaths as well as disastrous wildfires in France and Spain. The first three weeks of July was the hottest three week period ever recorded with an average global temperature of 62.51, above the 61.93 degrees of July 2019.
What To Watch For
Information on the rest of July will be published on Copernicus Climate Change Service’s monthly bulletin August 8, but the World Meteorological Organization says that it is extremely likely that this will be the hottest month ever recorded. The organization also predicted that the world is 98% likely to have the hottest single year on record within the next five years.
Tangent
Climate change will cause the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), an ocean water current system that circulates ocean water from north to south and south to north, to stop anywhere from 2025 to 2095, according to a study published Tuesday by Danish researchers Peter Ditlevsen and Susanne Ditlevsen. This is due to human-caused climate change from increased greenhouse gasses which will cause more fresh water to go into oceans eventually causing the current to stop. When the AMOC stops it will result in catastrophic effects to our climate, weather, sea levels and plant and animal life, and could cause an ice age in Europe.
July has been so blistering hot, scientists already calculate that it’s the warmest month on record (AP News)
Warming Could Push the Atlantic Past a ‘Tipping Point’ This Century (New York Times)
These 22 U.S. Cities Could All Break 100-Degree Temperatures Today (Forbes)
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