Monday was world’s hottest day ever recorded

Monday, July 22, was the world’s hottest day ever recorded, according to data from the European Union’s Climate Change Service, breaking the record which was set only a day earlier.

On Monday, the daily global average temperature was 62.87°F (17.15°C), according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, exceeding Sunday’s record which was 62.76°F (17.09°C). The third-hottest day on record is now considered to be July 6, 2023.

“What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said. “We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years.”

While precise records from Copernicus date back to 1940, climate scientist Karsten Haustein from Leipzig University in Germany said Monday was likely the world’s hottest day in “tens of thousands of years.”

Both 2023 and 2024 so far have been substantially warmer compared to previous years, with all 10 of the hottest years happening during the past 10 years. It’s still too early to say whether 2024 will surpass 2023 to become the hottest year on record.

“The ranking for 2024 will largely depend on the development and intensity of the next phase of the El Niño Southern Oscillation,” Copernicus said. “To date, 2024 has been sufficiently warm for it to be quite possible that the full year will be warmer than 2023, but the exceptional warmth of the last four months of 2023 makes it too early to predict with confidence which year will be the warmer.”