July on track to be hottest month ever recorded: UN, EU agencies

The first three weeks of July were the warmest three-week period ever recorded, indicating the month itself is on track to be both the hottest July and hottest month on record, according to data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

Copernicus attributes the record heat largely to a series of heat waves across broad swathes of the Asian, European and North American continents. July 6 of this year was the hottest single day on record, shattering the record set the previous day as well as the previous record set in August 2016. Meanwhile, during the first and third weeks of this month, global mean temperatures were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels, the level identified by the United Nations as a point-of-no-return threshold for warming. 

Copernicus also determined that global average sea surface temperatures have surpassed typical levels since May of this year. July, meanwhile, has seen the highest ocean temperatures ever recorded for this time of year.

The record temperatures over the past three weeks follow the hottest June on record. The current record for both the hottest July on record and the hottest month on record was set in 2019. The WMO will make full July data public on August 8. 

“Record-breaking temperatures are part of the trend of drastic increases in global temperatures. Anthropogenic emissions are ultimately the main driver of these rising temperatures,” Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a statement. “July’s record is unlikely to remain isolated this year, [Copernicus’s] seasonal forecasts indicate that over land areas temperatures are likely to be well above average, exceeding the 80th percentile of climatology for the time of year.”

In a separate statement, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said that “short of a mini-Ice Age over the next days, July 2023 will shatter records across the board.” 

“For vast parts of North America, Asia, Africa and Europe — it is a cruel summer. For the entire planet, it is a disaster. And for scientists, it is unequivocal — humans are to blame,” he added.

“All this is entirely consistent with predictions and repeated warnings. The only surprise is the speed of the change.”