Hottest Day on Record: A Wake-Up Call for Climate Action

This week, the Earth experienced its ‘hottest day on record’. Data from two climate tracking agencies confirmed that on Monday, the average global temperature reached a new high of 17.01 degrees Celsius (62.62 Fahrenheit).

This record was broken again on Tuesday, when the temperature rose to 17.18 degrees Celsius. The previous ‘hottest day on record’ was 16.92 degrees Celsius, set in August 2016.

Experts warn that this ‘hottest day on record’ is likely to be broken several more times this year. Robert Rohde, a leading scientist at Berkeley Earth, suggested that we might see even warmer days in the next six weeks. This new record is a preliminary one, but it underscores the rapid pace at which our world is heating up.

The arrival of the natural climate phenomenon El Niño, known for its warming effect, is exacerbating the global heating caused by climate change.

“This is not a record to celebrate, and it won’t be a record for long, with the northern hemisphere summer still mostly ahead and El Niño developing,” said Friederike Otto, a climate science expert at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment in the UK.

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Earth Experiences Its Hottest Day on Record

This year has already seen heat records shattered around the world, with devastating consequences. In the US, Texas and the South endured a brutal heatwave in late June, with temperatures soaring into the triple digits.

In Mexico, the heat has claimed at least 112 lives since March. Heatwaves in India and China have also resulted in numerous fatalities and set new ‘hottest day on record’ temperatures.

As the climate crisis intensifies, scientists warn that record-breaking heatwaves will become more frequent and severe. The new ‘hottest day on record’ serves as another urgent call to action.

Otto emphasized the need to stop burning fossil fuels immediately, not in decades. “This day is just a number, but for many people and ecosystems, it’s a loss of life and livelihood.”