Reuters news agency quoted the announcement of the Copernicus Climate Monitoring Service of the European Union (EU) as saying that the average global temperature in June exceeded the record set in June 2019 and was also 0.5 degrees Celsius higher than the period 1991-2020. Copernicus scientists emphasized that this phenomenon was recorded in the context of climate change that pushed global temperatures to a new record high. Copernicus announced this result after conducting analysis based on billions of data.

The Copernicus report pointed out that temperatures in Western and Northern Europe this June reached record levels. Meanwhile, temperatures in some parts of the US, Canada, Mexico, eastern Australia and Asia were also “significantly warmer” than in previous Junes. In Mexico, since March, at least 112 people have died due to heat. In addition, extreme weather events have also been recorded in a number of other countries, typically the US, China and Spain.

A resident in Ciudad Juarez (Mexico) walks under an umbrella in the hot sun on June 15. Photo: Reuters

“This is a wake-up call. It’s hard to imagine what our children’s summers will look like in 20 years. This is exactly what global warming is,” climate scientist Jennifer Marlon told CNN.

According to AFP, climate change and El Nino are warming the world, leading to more frequent extreme weather events. Scientist Julien Nicolas explained that the world witnessed record high temperatures last June mainly due to very warm surface temperatures in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, caused by El Nino. The scientist also said that the average global temperature recorded in 2023 was 16.51 degrees Celsius, which is 0.53 degrees Celsius higher than the average over the past 30 years, and affirmed that this is an unusual development.

Meanwhile, World Meteorological Organization (WMO) Secretary-General Petteri Taalas recently warned that El Nino will significantly increase the possibility of temperature records being broken and lead to extreme weather in many parts of the world as well as in the oceans. "Ocean warming is even more worrying. Because ocean warming also means higher sea levels and more coastal communities being flooded," climate scientist Marlon added.

Joeri Rogelj, professor of climate science at the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London (UK), said the above temperature record is not surprising and is evidence that climate change is happening at a worrying rate. As the El Nino phenomenon increases in the coming months, it is likely that many more global temperature records will continue to be broken.

Scientists predict that the average global temperature will continue to rise until late July or early August. Recently, the United Nations also warned that it is almost certain that the period 2023-2027 will be the hottest five years in history.

Faced with this situation, WMO Secretary-General Taalas called on governments to take preparatory measures to limit the impacts of extreme weather phenomena on human health, ecosystems and the economy.

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