Breaking Heat Records at an Accelerating Rate
We all know that global warming leads to our climate crisis. As the planet warms, the crisis grows and accelerates. We are on a year-long streak when each month broke the all-time heat record for hottest month ever. June was the hottest June ever. July was the hottest July ever. Repeat for every month so far in 2024. Why this is happening is yet to be fully understood.
The third weekend in July blew the doors off. First, Sunday July 21, 2024 was the hottest day in the last 120,000 years, according to Copernicus, a European climate institute.
“Copernicus’ preliminary data shows that the global average temperature Sunday was 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit), beating the record set just last year on July 6, 2023 by .01 degrees Celsius (.02 degrees Fahrenheit). Both Sunday’s mark and last year’s record obliterate the previous record of 16.8 degrees Celsius (62.24 degrees Fahrenheit), which itself was only a few years old, set in 2016.”
Without human-caused climate change, records would be broken nowhere near as frequently, and new cold records would be set as often as hot ones.
“What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement. “We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years.”
Scientists have yet to fully answer the question of why the temperature readings on the planet’s surface have been so high since 2023.
Then, on Monday, July 22, the Sunday record was broken. The next day! Again, from Copernicus:
- The daily global average temperature hit 17.09°C (62.76°F) on July 21, which was just above the 17.08°C (62.74) recorded on July 6, 2023.
- Then on Monday, the temperature hit 17.15°C (62.87°F), besting Sunday’s record.
- The data comes from a technique known as reanalysis, in which data from ships, buoys, surface weather stations, satellites and other sources are crunched and calculated in near-real-time.
What is clear is that, in the last 12 months, the surface temperatures of planet Earth are significantly above the warming trend lines of recent years. The why is not fully understood.
Has a tipping point been reached whereby the global temperatures – and the reason for global warming – are increasing more rapidly? We know that the human species is largely at fault for our climate crisis. So why?
Is it due to:
- A yet-to-be-experienced heat reality that occurs when the CO2 ppm is over 420, which is where it has been for the last two years? Since the current level is slightly over 422/ppm, is there some tipping point around 420 to 422 ppm that would increase surface temps appreciably?
- The vast amount of forest and brush fires over the past few years emitting massive amounts of additional CO2 into the atmosphere?
- The fact that the oceans have been absorbing so much CO2 in recent years, they are now able to absorb less?
- A tipping point has been reached when permafrost is melting and releasing methane?
We don’t know for sure. It’s likely a mixture of the above and may include an as of yet unrecognized contributor to the heat. We at This Spaceship Earth commit to remaining vigilant concerning this alarming trend, and will report to you whenever new information comes to light.
