Weather: Sunday July 21 was the hottest day recorded on Earth since 1940

Il dépasse légèrement le précédent record de juillet 2023. MAXPPP – Roland Macri

La journée du dimanche 21 juillet 2024 a été le jour le plus chaud dans le monde depuis 1940, indique l'Institut Copernicus.

This very slightly exceeds (0.01 °C) the previous record which dated July 6, 2023.

Sunday July 21 was the hottest day recorded in the world since records began in 1940, with a global average temperature of 17.09 degrees, the European network announced on Tuesday Copernicus.

New records could be broken

According to Copernicus, this new daily record, which comes as heat waves hit parts of the United States and Europe, could be crossed again in the coming days before until temperatures drop, although there may be some fluctuations in the coming weeks.

"What is truly astounding is the magnitude of the difference between the temperature of the last 13 months and previous temperature records. We are now in uncharted territory and as the climate continues to warm, we will certainly see new records being broken in the months and years to come", predicts the director of the Copernicus service on climate change (C3S), Carlo Buontempo, quoted in a press release.

The month of June 2024, the hottest ever measured

Before July 2023, the previous record daily global average temperature was 16.8 °C, reached on August 13, 2016, according to Copernicus data. Since July 3, 2023, 57 days have exceeded this 2016 record.

Following a record-breaking 2023 for heat, June 2024 was the hottest June ever measured, becoming the 13th consecutive month to set a record for higher average temperature than equivalent months.

The global average temperature over the last 12 months is thus the "highest ever recorded (…), 1.64°C above of the pre-industrial average 1850-1900", when deforestation and the burning of coal, gas or oil had not yet warmed the Earth's climate, had announced early July Copernicus.