July on track to be world's hottest month on record, WMO says
The announcement comes as heat waves have swept through parts of North America, Europe and Asia. China set a new national temperature record with a reading of 126 degrees on July 16 in Turpan, according to the China Meteorological Administration.
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GENEVA – The World Meteorological Organization announced Thursday that the first three weeks of July have been the warmest three-week period on record, setting the month on track to be the hottest July and hottest month on record.
"We don’t have to wait for the end of the month to know this," said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. "Short of a mini-Ice Age over the next days, July 2023 will shatter records across the board."
The findings are based on data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
Globally averaged surface air temperature for the first 23 days of July for all months of July from 1940 to 2023. Twenty-three days represent the number of days in July 2023 for which ERA5 data are available as of writing of this document.
(Data: ERA5. Credit: C3S/ECMWF. / FOX Weather)
The C3S noted that the hottest day on record since 1940 was July 6, when the global mean surface air temperature reached 62.7 degrees. This broke the previous record of 62.2 degrees set on Aug. 13, 2016. The second- and third-hottest days on record were July 5 and July 7.
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During the first and third week of July, the global mean temperature temporarily surpassed the 1.5-degree Celsius threshold set by the Paris Climate Agreement as the target limit for climate change over 20- or 30-year periods.
Global daily surface air temperature (°C) from 1 January 1940 to 23 July 2023, plotted as time series for each year. 2023 and 2016 are shown with thick lines shaded in bright red and dark red, respectively. Other years are shown with thin lines and shaded according to the decade, from blue (1940s) to brick red (2020s). The dotted line and grey envelope represent the 1.5°C threshold above preindustrial level (1850–1900) and its uncertainty.
(Data: ERA5. Credit: C3S/ECMWF / FOX Weather)
The previous record holder for the hottest month and hottest July was in 2019, according to the C3S. During that month, the global mean surface air temperature was about 61.9 degrees, whereas the global mean surface air temperature averaged for the first 23 days of July 2023 hit 62.5 degrees.
"At this stage, it is virtually certain that the full monthly average temperature for July 2023 will exceed that of July 2019 by a significant margin, making July 2023 the warmest July and warmest month on record," the WMO said.
Ranking of the top 30 warmest days in the ERA5 dataset based on globally averaged surface air temperature. Days in July 2023 are highlighted in bold.
(Data: ERA5. Credit: C3S/ECMWF. / FOX Weather)
The announcement comes as heat waves have swept through parts of North America, Europe and Asia. China set a new national temperature record with a reading of 126 degrees on July 16 in Turpan, according to the China Meteorological Administration.