Record-Breaking Heat: June Marks Hottest on Record

The EU's climate change monitoring service reports that June was the hottest on record, continuing a trend of rising temperatures. This puts 2024 on track to be the hottest year ever recorded. Human-caused climate change and the El Nino phenomenon are significant contributors. The impact includes heat-related deaths globally.

Last month was the hottest June on record, according to the EU's climate change monitoring service. This continues a streak of exceptional temperatures that suggests 2024 could be on track for the world's hottest recorded year. Every month since June 2023 has ranked as the planet's hottest since records began, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) reported.

The latest data indicates that 2024 could surpass 2023 as the hottest year since records began, driven by human-caused climate change and the El Nino weather phenomenon. Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at U.S. non-profit Berkeley Earth, estimates a 95% chance that 2024 will be the warmest year on record.

The altered climate has already caused catastrophic consequences globally in 2024, with over 1,000 heat-related deaths during the haj pilgrimage and extreme heatwave fatalities in New Delhi and among tourists in Greece. Friederike Otto from Imperial College London added that while El Nino is a natural phenomenon, human actions like burning fossil fuels significantly exacerbate climate change.

C3S' dataset, which dates back to 1940, confirms that last month was the hottest June since the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period. Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are the primary cause of climate change. Despite global promises to curb warming, emissions remain high, leading to record temperatures.

(With inputs from agencies.)