The average global surface air temperature hit 16.82°C in August 2024, making it the joint-hottest August both globally and in Europe, new data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has found.
According to C3S, August 2024 was 1.51°C above pre-industrial levels, and is now the 13th month in a 14-month period in which global-average surface air temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The global-average temperature for the period from September 2023 to August 2024 has set a new record as the highest ever for any 12-month span, being 0.76°C above the 1991–2020 average and 1.64°C higher than the 1850–1900 pre-industrial average.
Furthermore, the global-average temperature anomaly for the first eight months of 2024 (January–August) is 0.70°C above the 1991-2020 average, marking an increase of 0.23°C compared to the same period in 2023.
Hottest June and August
“During the past three months of 2024, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest boreal summer on record,” commented Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
This string of record temperatures is increasing the likelihood of 2024 being the hottest year on record. The temperature-related extreme events witnessed this summer will only become more intense, with more devastating consequences for people and the planet unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Above average temperatures
In Europe, temperatures were above average in southern and Eastern Europe in August, but below average over northwestern parts of Ireland and the United Kingdom, Iceland, the west coast of Portugal, and southern Norway, C3S said.
Outside Europe, meanwhile temperatures in August were mostly above average in eastern Antarctica, Mexico, Canada, northeast Africa, Iran, China, Japan, and Australia, as well as in the US state of Texas.
Below average temperatures for the month were recorded in far eastern Russia and Alaska, the eastern United States, parts of southern South America, Pakistan and the Sahel.
In addition, in August 2024, most of continental Europe, including southern UK, Ireland, the Alps, the Balkans, northwest Russia, and eastern Fennoscandia, experienced drier-than-average conditions. This dryness also affected Mexico, southern North America, parts of Russia, China, most of South America, and Southern Africa, with wildfires in Canada, Siberia, and Brazil.
In contrast, eastern North America, central Russia, eastern China, and eastern Australia recorded a wetter-than-average month. Read the full report here.
