Earth Breaks Global Heat Records Just One Year After Setting the Previous Record
Earth is the hottest it's been in 120,000 years thanks to human-caused climate change.
Updated July 24 2024, 1:20 p.m. ET
If you've noticed the sweltering heat wave in the U.S. during summer 2024, you have already experienced the hottest day on Earth (so far) and might not have even known it. As scientists race against the clock to impress upon the public the dire consequences of the climate crisis with hashtags and warnings, people can experience the truth of the matter in their very own backyards.
In addition to alarming events such as mass coral bleaching and devastating global floods, the climate crisis continues to crank up the heat globally, making it difficult for people to comfortably exist at all. Keep reading for what you need to know about Earth's hottest temperatures on record.
What caused the hottest day on Earth in July 2024? The climate crisis is a major factor.
According to satellite data published by Copernicus Climate Change Service's "Climate Pulse," Sunday, July 21, 2024, broke the record for the hottest day on Earth with an average global temperature of 62.76 degrees Fahrenheit.
However, July 22, 2024, quickly replaced that record by 0.06 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Associated Press (AP).
Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald told the AP in an email, "Deaths from high temperatures show how catastrophic it is not to take stronger action on cutting CO2."
While scientists are not 100 percent certain the reason for the increased temperatures, as records of tree rings and ice cores do not extend back far enough, global temperatures have not been this high for thousands of years, aligning with climate scientists' projections if humans kept burning fossil fuels.
What was the previous hottest day on Earth?
The previous hottest day on Earth was July 4, 2023, according to data from the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction. The global average temperature that day reached 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius), reported The Washington Post.
It was the hottest day on record since, well, the day before. On July 3, 2023, many media outlets reported it was the hottest day on Earth when the global average temperature reached 62.62 degrees Fahrenheit (17.01 degrees Celsius).
Heat waves are being felt around the U.S.
According to Reuters, despite moving out of the El Niño climate pattern in April 2024, you may have noticed that at least in the Northeast, a heat wave began in roughly June 2024 and hasn't let up since.
The National Weather Service defines a heat wave as a “period of abnormally hot weather generally lasting more than two days.” Heat waves are becoming more frequent and more intense due to climate change, reports the Weather Channel.
Scientists with NASA Global Climate Change say the Earth’s average surface temperature has risen by about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since the late 19th century, and the increase is driven by greenhouse gas emissions that trap heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.
"It is undeniable that human activities have produced the atmospheric gases that have trapped more of the Sun’s energy in the Earth system," explains NASA. "This extra energy has warmed the atmosphere, ocean, and land, and widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred."
This article, originally published on July 5, 2023, has been updated to reflect new information.
