Last month was the hottest single month ever recorded globally, even though in some areas this month seems to be making a run at the new record.
Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European Union’s climate monitor, show a global average air temperature in August of 16.96C or about 62.5F—and that includes night as well as day. The previous high of 16.95 was set in July 2023.
Although the detailed records go back only to 1940, but other evidence including ice cores, tree rings, coral skeletons and other physical traces allows a longer historical view. Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs Copernicus, told press that “Humans haven’t seen temperatures as hot as today for, arguably, at least the last 100,000 years.”
Global sea surface temperatures also set a new record for one-day temperature and tied the month record in August, the third month in a row to set a new record.
