Monday may have been the warmest day ever recorded on Earth. This means that Sunday's heat record would already have been broken, according to preliminary figures from the EU's climate service Copernicus.
Copernicus data shows that the global average temperature on Monday was 17.15 degrees. This beats the record from Sunday's temperature, which was 17.09 degrees. The previous heat record from July 2023 was 17.08 degrees.
Every month since June 2023, i.e. 13 months in a row, has been classified as the warmest since measurements began, according to Copernicus.
Climate researchers say that the world is now as warm as it was 125,000 years ago due to climate changes caused by humans. The average temperature has not been this high since long before humans developed agriculture.
Some researchers believe that 2024 as a year may become even warmer than 2023, since climate changes and the natural weather phenomenon El Nino – which ended in April – have driven temperatures higher this year.
