**** Info via Environment Canada
Hottest July on record
The month of July was the hottest ever recorded on our planet. The global average temperature reached 16.95°C, 0.72°C warmer than the average from 1991-2020, and 0.33°C warmer than the previous warmest July recorded in 2019. In fact, July 2023 has the highest global average temperature ever recorded for any month.
The global average temperature is the average of temperatures measured all around the world. It gives us an idea of how warm or cold the Earth’s surface is globally.
Global average temperature for all months of July from 1940 to 2023. Shades of blue indicate cooler-than-average years, while shades of red show years that were warmer than average. Data: ERA5. Credit: C3S/ECMWF.
July started very hot, breaking the daily global average temperature record for four days in a row from July 3 to 6. July 6 was the hottest day ever recorded, reaching 17.08°C. From July 3 to the end of the month, every day exceeded the prior record of 16.80°C set on August 13, 2016, making it the hottest 29 days on record.
This map shows how much warmer or colder July 2023 was compared to what is usually expected for July based on temperatures between 1951 and 1980. It is a measure of how different the temperature was from what is considered normal. Credits: NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Some explanation behind this record heat
An unusually prolonged stretch of record-breaking high ocean surface temperatures contributed, in part, to the record warmth observed in July. From April, ocean temperatures have consistently maintained record-high values for this time of year. By mid-May, these temperatures had escalated to unprecedented levels.
Average oceans temperature from 1979-2023. Source: World Meteorological Organization.
What to expect for the rest of 2023
The rest of 2023 is expected to be warmer due to a developing El Niño event. According to NOAA’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, it’s almost certain (over 99%) that 2023 will be among the five warmest years ever, with almost a 50% chance of being the warmest.
2015 to 2022 were the eight warmest years on record, in line with a clear warming trend pattern over the last few decades, where each of the last four decades has been successively warmer than the preceding decade. As concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continue to increase, global warming will continue, and temperature records will continue to be broken.
For more: Understanding Observed Global Climate Change.
