Monday was recorded as the hottest day ever, , as countries across the globe from Japan to Bolivia to the United States continue to feel the heat, according to the European climate change service.
Provisional published by Copernicus early on Wednesday showed that Monday broke the previous day's record by 0.06 degrees Celsius (0.1 degree Fahrenheit).
Climate scientists say the world is now as warm as it was 125,000 years ago because of human-caused climate change. While scientists cannot be certain that Monday was the very hottest day throughout that period, average temperatures have not been this high since long before humans developed agriculture.
The temperature rise in recent decades is in line with what climate scientists projected would happen if humans kept burning fossil fuels at an increasing rate.
鈥淲e are in an age where weather and climate records are frequently stretched beyond our tolerance levels, resulting in insurmountable loss of lives and livelihoods,鈥� Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.
Copernicus鈥� preliminary data shows the global average temperature Monday was 17.15 degrees Celsius, or 62.87 degrees Fahrenheit. The previous record before this week was set just a year ago. Before last year, 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 extremely warm, what kicked this week into new territory was a warmer-than-usual Antarctic winter, according to Copernicus. The same thing happened on the southern continent last year when the record was set in early July.
Copernicus records go back to 1940, but other global measurements by the United States and United Kingdom governments go back even further, to 1880. Many scientists, taking those into consideration along with tree rings and ice cores, say last year鈥檚 record highs were the . Now the first six months of 2024 have broken even those.
Without , scientists say that extreme temperature records would not be broken nearly as frequently as is happening in recent years.
Former head of U.N. climate negotiations Christiana Figueres said 鈥渨e all scorch and fry鈥� if the world doesn't immediately change course. 鈥淥ne third of global electricity can be produced by solar and wind alone, but targeted national policies have to enable that transformation,鈥� she said.
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AP science writer Seth Borenstein contributed to this report.
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The Associated Press鈥� climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP鈥檚 for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at .
Sibi Arasu, The Associated Press
