In short
- August tied with July 2023 as the hottest month on record, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate service.
- Global temperatures in August were 1.65C above pre-industrial levels, above the 1.5C threshold countries agreed to stay within.
- Western Europe recorded its warmest summer on record, with heat pushing the season past the deadly summer of 2003.
- The UK had its hottest summer since records began in 1884, a mark the Met Office found had been made about 130 times more likely by human-caused climate change.
- Copernicus says the current El Niño is still strengthening and could become one of the most powerful on record.
August was the joint-hottest month on record, tying with July 2023, the European Union’s Copernicus climate service has said. Global average temperatures for the month reached 1.65C above pre-industrial levels, above the 1.5C threshold that countries agreed to stay within to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.
How much hotter was August than pre-industrial levels?
Copernicus recorded August at 1.65C above pre-industrial levels, surpassing the 1.5C limit set out by countries. A single month above 1.5C does not mean the limit has been permanently crossed, but the reading shows a trend towards breaching it.
What role is El Niño playing in the record heat?
Researchers attribute the record to the ongoing use of fossil fuels combined with a strengthening El Niño. El Niño is a natural climate pattern in which a band of the eastern Pacific turns unusually warm, releasing large amounts of stored ocean heat into the atmosphere and nudging global temperatures upwards for around a year.
Copernicus says the El Niño currently being experienced is still strengthening and could become one of the most powerful on record. Its biggest impact on global temperatures is expected over the coming year, meaning the current run of records may have further to go. The same Pacific warming is interacting with other climate systems: our report on how El Niño is suppressing hurricane formation in the Atlantic sets out the effect on that basin.
What was western Europe’s summer like?
August capped western Europe’s warmest summer on record, with high temperatures pushing the season past the deadly heat of 2003. The UK recorded its hottest summer since records began in 1884, a mark the Met Office found had been made about 130 times more likely by human-caused climate change.
Across the UK and Europe, the heat disrupted schools, strained hospitals, hit food production, fuelled fires and drought, and claimed “tens of thousands of lives”, according to Dr Clair Barnes, an extreme weather researcher at Imperial College London. Separate conservation work in the UK includes the National Trust’s £1m plan to restore Eryri valley habitats.
What did climate officials say?
Dr Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at Copernicus, called August “a remarkable month in the global climate record” and said its impacts were “increasingly being felt by communities, economies and ecosystems across the world”. She said the combination of record air temperatures, record ocean heat and Europe’s exceptional summer showed climate change driving extremes across “both the atmosphere and the oceans”.
UN climate chief Simon Stiell said the record clearly showed humanity’s impact on the climate. “The evidence is irrefutable: this is the spiralling price of humanity’s fossil fuel addiction, and the global climate crisis it is fuelling,” he said.
Will temperature records keep falling?
Dr Clair Barnes rejected the idea that summers of this kind are now simply the “new normal”. “Until we stop burning fossil fuels these records will continue to tumble, and the extremes will worsen faster than we are able to adapt,” she said. “Crucially, how much worse we allow it to get remains within our hands.”
Frequently asked questions
What was the hottest month on record?
August tied with July 2023 as the hottest month on record, according to the European Union’s Copernicus climate service, at 1.65C above pre-industrial levels.
Did global temperatures pass 1.5C in August?
Yes. Copernicus recorded August at 1.65C above pre-industrial levels, above the 1.5C threshold, though a single month above the limit does not mean it has been permanently crossed.
Why was August so hot?
Researchers point to human-caused climate change from fossil fuel use combined with a strengthening El Niño, a natural Pacific warming pattern that releases stored ocean heat into the atmosphere.
What is El Niño?
El Niño is a natural climate pattern in which a band of the eastern Pacific turns unusually warm, releasing large amounts of stored ocean heat and nudging global temperatures upwards for around a year.
With reporting from BBC News.
Stock image, not from the events described. On Broadway (219462837) — Cody Hall / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)