HOTTEST DAY EVER GLOBALLY

Although it’s winter in the southern hemisphere, Monday 3 July was recorded as the hottest day ever globally. This is according to data supplied by the US National Centre for Environmental Protection.

The average global temperature of 17.01 degrees Celsius was recorded. The previous record of 16.92 degrees Celsius happened in August 2016.

The southern parts of the United States have been suffering under intense heat the last few weeks while an enduring heatwave in China hasn’t given any relief as temperatures reach above 35 degrees Celsius.

Temperatures in North Africa were close to reaching 50 degrees Celsius with Antarctica registering abnormally high temperatures even though it’s winter there. The Argentine Islands in Antarctica recently broke its own July temperature record at 8.7 degrees Celsius.

Climate scientist Friederike Otto of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment at Britain’s Imperial College London shared his concerns about what lies ahead for the future.

“This is not a milestone we should be celebrating. It’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems.”

It seems as if it’s not the first set of unwelcome records that could be broken this year, according to Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkely Earth.

“Unfortunately, it promises to only be the first in a series of new records set this year as increasing emissions of (carbon dioxide) and greenhouse gases coupled with a growing El Nino event push temperatures to new highs.”

Image credit: NPR