It was an extreme summer, a summer of all dangers. With French glasses, the superlative might seem excessive, as the last few months have seemed bleak in France, especially in the north of the country. But globally, the period from June to August is the hottest ever recorded. It exceeds the average for the 1991-2020 period by 0.69°C, narrowly surpassing the previous record of 2023, according to the latest bulletin from the European Copernicus service on climate change (C3S), published on Friday 6 September.
Across the globe, from Lapland to Australia, China to the United States, countries have suffered from heat waves, floods, droughts and fires caused by climate change. Calamities have affected millions of people, killed thousands and caused billions of dollars in economic losses.
With an average temperature of 16.82°C, August 2024 is set to be the warmest August on record, tied with 2023. It continues a nearly unbroken run of fifteen months that have each broken their own record, with the exception of July in the Copernicus dataset but not in others, such as that of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). August is also the thirteenth month in a fourteen-month stretch that has exceeded pre-industrial averages by 1.5°C, the most ambitious limit in the Paris agreement.
“Even if it is not year-round, we are starting to live in a world with +1.5°C, a warming that is harmful to humans and many ecosystems. This brings us closer to certain tipping points.” warns Davide Faranda, climatologist at the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute.
Strong anomalies
Throughout the summer, the mercury rose to high levels, sparing no continent. Australia recorded record temperatures in the middle of winter, reaching 41.6°C on the northwest coast. The country has just experienced its hottest August, as has Spain or some Chinese provinces. In Japan, the entire summer has historically been scorching (on par with 2023), as has been the case in South Korea for half a century. On July 7, more than 70 million Americans were under heat wave alert, causing deaths. In June, in Saudi Arabia, more than 1,300 people died during the pilgrimage to Mecca, where the thermometer reached 51.8°C.
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