At a Glance
- Newly released data showed the planet had its warmest June on record.
- It was the 13th consecutive month that a global heat record was set.
- The average global temperature has now been 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) or more above the pre-industrial average for a year.
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June was Earth's hottest on record, topping the mark just set in 2023 and extending the stretch of record-hot months to over a year, according to data from multiple agencies.
Record-setting stretch of global warmth reaches 13 months: In a report released Friday, NOAA found June's globally averaged temperature was 2.20 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average, and about 0.27 degrees warmer than June 2023, the previous warmest June in their dataset dating to 1850. The report noted that the 13-month stretch of record global warmth ties May 2015 to May 2016 as the longest such streak in modern records, or since 1980.
That follows reports issued earlier this week by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) which both also found June was record hot, extending the streaks of record global warmth in their respective datasets to 13 months.
Globally averaged temperature data is synthesized from measurements taken by weather stations, ships, aircraft and satellites.
Global temperatures have been above a critical pre-industrial temperature benchmark for a year now: June was also the 12th straight month to have its average temperature reach or exceed the threshold of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above the pre-industrial average (1850-1900), based on the CS3 dataset.
The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a press release Monday that under the Paris Agreement, nations agreed to keep the long-term global average surface temperature well below the threshold of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) above the pre-industrial average. The goal by the end of the century is to pursue efforts to limit that to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above the pre-industrial average.
"The scientific community has repeatedly warned that warming of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius risks unleashing far more severe climate change impacts and extreme weather and every fraction of a degree of warming matters," the WMO said.
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June's notables: June was record warm in a wide area of Africa, southern Europe, southeast Asia and the northern two-thirds of South America, NOAA said.
Europe tied its second-warmest June, according to CS3. The continental U.S. also had its second-hottest June, a report from NOAA said on Tuesday.
There were a few pockets that had a cooler-than-average June, as shown in the blue contours on the map at the top of this article, but most areas of the world were at least somewhat above average.
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Will 2024 top 2023 for Earth's warmest year? NOAA's June climate summary said it was virtually certain 2024 would rank in the top 10 warmest years.
The chance this year ranks as the hottest on record was about 59%, according to that report.
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