NY – Last month was the warmest June on record globally and the 13th consecutive month in which record global temperatures were reached, according to a report by the National Environmental Information Centres.
According to the agency, which is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)the global surface temperature was 1.22 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average of 15.5 degrees.
Extreme heat had a significant impact on much of Africa and South America, which experienced the warmest June on record, exceeding their previous record temperatures by 0.51 and 0.82 degrees, respectively.
One of the biggest effects of the heat in South America has been the “early and expansive drying out of the Pantanal” (the largest tropical wetland in the world), where there were more than 2,500 forest fires last month, the highest number since the agency has records.
Meanwhile, for Europe, that month was the second hottest in its history, and its temperatures exceeded the monthly average by 2.55 degrees Celsius, according to the entity, which began doing these studies 175 years ago.
June was also very warm for the oceans, where temperatures were 0.98 degrees Celsius above average following the passage of the El Niño weather phenomenon.
In this sense, the waters of the equatorial Atlantic and the Caribbean were particularly affected, an area that also recently suffered the ravages of Hurricane Beryl.
In terms of precipitation, June was drier than average across much of the western and far eastern United States and Alaska, as well as the area from North Africa to southeastern Europe and much of Russia, northeastern China, and parts of southern and eastern Australia.
The forecasts for this year are not positive: the agency believes there is almost a 60% chance that 2024 will be the warmest year on record, and says it will at least be among the five warmest.