Last month was the hottest June ever recorded worldwide and the 13th consecutive month in which average temperatures reached a record, according to information released by the U.S. Centers for Environmental Information.
According to these centers (NCEI), the average surface temperature exceeded the 20th century average (15.5 ºC) by 1.22 degrees Celsius (ºC).
The extreme heat particularly affected much of Africa and South America, where previous records were exceeded by 0.51 and 0.82 ºC respectively.
One of the most serious consequences of the heat wave in South America has been “premature and widespread drought in the Pantanal,” the world’s largest tropical wetland, where more than 2,500 wildfires burned in June, the highest number since such events have been recorded.
Meanwhile, Europe had its hottest month on record, with temperatures 2.55 ºC above the monthly average, according to NCEI, a member of the US Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), which began conducting the study 175 years ago.
June was also very hot for the oceans, with average temperatures 0.98 ºC above average following the O Menino climate event. [El Niño].
In this sense, the waters of the equatorial Atlantic and the Caribbean Sea, an area that was just hit by Hurricane Beryl, were particularly affected.
In terms of precipitation, June was drier than average over much of the western and far eastern United States and Alaska, as well as an area stretching from North Africa to southeastern Europe and much of the Russian Federation, northwestern China and parts of southern and eastern Australia.
This year, NOAA estimates a 60% chance that 2024 will be the hottest year on record, and it certainly expects it to be in the top five hottest years on record.
On Monday, the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the climate monitoring component of the European Space Programme, reported that June was the 13th hottest year on record worldwide.
The average surface air temperature, according to Copernicus, was 16.66 ºC, which is 0.67 ºC higher than the average for this month in 1991-2020 and 0.14 ºC higher than the previous maximum set in June 2023.