A security guard wipes sweat from his brow in Beijing, on July 3, 2023. Record-breaking heat is unfolding around the world because of human-caused climate change and the cyclic climate pattern El Niño.
Andy Wong/AP
It is very hot in a lot of places right now. It’s over 100 degrees in cities across China. Millions of people in North Africa and the Middle East are grappling with life-threatening heat. And the heat index is pushing 110 degrees or higher from Texas to Florida.
The average global air temperature over the last two days appears to be the hottest on record, going back to 1979, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
On July 4, the global average temperature was estimated to be 62.9 degrees Fahrenheit, according to NOAA climate models. That’s about half a degree Fahrenheit higher than the previous daily record set on August 14, 2016. And while an average temperature in the 60s may sound low, the daily global temperature estimate includes the entire planet, including Antarctica.
Zoom out a little bit more, and June 2023 may have been the hottest June on a longer record, going back to the late 1800s, according to preliminary global data from NOAA and a major European climate model. June 2023 was more than 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than average global temperatures in June in the late 1800s.
The reason for the scorching temperatures is twofold: human-caused climate change plus the cyclic climate pattern known as El Niño. El Niño is a natural pattern that began in June, and leads to extra-hot water in the Pacific. That has cascading effects around the globe, causing more…
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