Although we still have a few days left to officially end the astronomical summer, the meteorological or boreal summer (encompassing June, July, and August) has already concluded, setting heat records, as stated by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) this Friday. Both the three months as a whole and August alone have been the hottest globally since records began, according to data from this European satellite monitoring network.
Thus, the global average temperature for the June-July-August 2024 period was the highest ever recorded, standing 0.69°C above the average for those three months in the 1991-2020 period.
Also, the average temperature in the European continent has been the highest during this season, surpassing by 1.54°C the 1991-2020 average and also breaking the previous record set in 2022 (1.34°C). This is the overall European data because regionally, temperatures were above average in southern and eastern Europe and below in northwest Ireland and the UK, Iceland, the western coast of Portugal, and southern Norway.
August 2024 will be remembered alongside August 2023 as the hottest August worldwide, with a surface air average temperature of 16.82°C, which is 0.71°C above the 1991-2020 average for that month.
These data align with the high temperatures recorded in recent months across all seasons. The global temperature over the last 12 months (from September 2023 to August 2024) is also the highest on record, standing 0.76°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.64°C above the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900.
"This series of record temperatures increases the likelihood of 2024 being the hottest year on record," warns Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. "The extreme temperature-related events we have witnessed this summer will only intensify, with more devastating consequences for both people and the planet unless urgent measures are taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions," she urges.