The Hottest Days Ahead

 

Climate changes is bringing about epic droughts, tropical storms and dislocations of populations, and yesterday, scientists say, was the hottest average day on Earth since records have been kept:

"Tuesday was the hottest day on Earth since records began in 1979, with the global average temperature reaching 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius), according to data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

As a result, scientists believe July 4 may have been the hottest day on Earth in around 125,000 years, due to a dangerous combination of climate change causing global temperatures to soar, the return of the El Niño pattern and the start of summer in the northern hemisphere."  (our emphasis)

It came one day after the previous record was set:

"The last time the record was broken was on Monday, when the temperature was 62.62 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the same data. Before that, the highest recorded average temperature in history was 62.46 degrees Fahrenheit as measured on Aug. 14, 2016, during the previous El Niño cycle.

Unless action is taken to combat carbon emissions, temperatures are likely to get even hotter, experts say."  (our emphasis)

We have record heat and other climate emergencies to face if carbon emissions aren't curbed, and we're in for a record summer globally:

“'When’s the hottest day likely to be? It’s going to be when global warming, El Niño, and the annual cycle all line up together. Which is the next couple months,' said Myles Allen, a professor of geosystem science at Oxford University, in a phone interview Wednesday. 'It’s a triple whammy.'

Much of Tuesday’s record is explained by climate change causing the world to heat up, Allen said, adding that global temperatures are already 1.25 degrees Celsius (2.25 degrees Fahrenheit) above their preindustrial average. 'It’s warming 0.25 degrees Celsius a decade,' he said. 'That’s why we see records broken continuously, rather than just as one-offs.'”  (our emphasis)