Monday was the hottest ever recorded day on Earth, data shows
FILE-People walk along the Brooklyn Bridge amid a heat wave on June 20, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
The hottest day on Earth occurred on Monday as sweltering conditions beat a record set the day before as countries worldwide felt the heat.
Citing data published by Copernicus, a European climate change service, the Associated Press reported that Monday broke the previous day’s record by 0.06 degrees Celsius (0.1 degrees Fahrenheit).
Copernicus’ preliminary data shows the global average temperature on Monday was 17.15 degrees Celsius, or 62.87 degrees Fahrenheit.
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According to the data, the previous record before this week was set just a year ago. Before 2023, the previous recorded hottest day was in 2016, when average temperatures were at 16.8 degrees Celsius, or 62.24 degrees Fahrenheit.
While 2024 has been very warm, what propelled this week into new territory was a warmer-than-usual Antarctic winter, per Copernicus. According to the AP, the same thing happened on the southern continent in 2023 when the record was set in early July.
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Climate scientists tell the Associated Press that the world is now as warm as it was more than 100,000 years ago because of human-caused climate change.
Scientists also explained to the AP that these abnormally warm days have occurred for two straight years, considering that the natural El Nino warming of the central Pacific Ocean ended earlier in 2024.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.