Monday, July 22, set a new record for the hottest day ever recorded.
This was confirmed by preliminary data from the European Union monitoring agency, Copernicus Climate Change Service, as reported by Reuters.
It follows the record-breaking heat on Sunday, July 21. The global average surface air temperature reached 17.15 degrees Celsius, edging past Sunday's record by 0.06 degrees.
The record-breaking streak is notable, as early July 2023 also saw four consecutive days of record-setting temperatures.
Prior to this, the hottest day was recorded in August 2016.
"This past Monday might have set a new global record for the warmest absolute global average temperature ever — by that I mean going back tens of thousands of years," said Karsten Haustein, a climate scientist at Leipzig University in Germany.
Climate Change in Action
In recent days, cities in Japan, Indonesia, and China have recorded unprecedented heat. Gulf countries have experienced heat indexes exceeding 60 degrees Celsius when factoring in humidity, and temperatures in parts of Europe have surged past 45 degrees Celsius.
Scientists attribute these extreme temperatures to climate change driven by the burning of fossil fuels. Unlike last year, which saw climate change combined with the El Niño climate pattern to set new daily records, this July's record-breaking heat occurred without the influence of El Niño.
Haustein remarked on the significance of this occurrence, noting that it is "remarkable" the record was breached even as the world is no longer under the influence of El Niño.
