This past Sunday was the warmest single day ever recorded, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, the European Union-funded research organization. That is, until Monday, when global temperatures inched up a bit more. Then Monday became the hottest day in modern history, with an average global temperature of 17.16 Celsius or 62.88 Fahrenheit. Tuesday was almost as hot.
The records shouldn’t come as a complete surprise. Earth tends to be at its warmest during the Northern Hemisphere’s summer. The previous record for the planet’s warmest day came last July.
But what stunned scientists wasn’t the temperature of the hottest day ever recorded, which was up slightly from last year, it was how much hotter than usual it’s been during the rest of the year, between these two summer peaks. Instead of returning to something close to normal, average global surface temperatures have remained stubbornly high for more than a year now.
“What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Copernicus. “We are now in truly uncharted territory, and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years.”
On Thursday, António Guterres, secretary general of the U.N., addressed the global heat wave and called for new efforts to protect the vulnerable and workers, as well as to make population centers more resilient.
“Let’s face facts,” he said. “Extreme temperatures are no longer a one-day, one-week or one-month phenomenon. If there is one thing that unites our divided world, it’s that we’re all increasingly feeling the heat. Earth is becoming hotter and more dangerous for everyone, everywhere.”
And Guterres, who has emerged as an outspoken critic of the oil, coal and gas industries, left no doubts about the cause. “We know what is driving it: fossil fuel-charged, human-induced climate change,” he said. “And we know it’s going to get worse.”
Extreme heat is killing people around the globe. There have been hundreds of heat-related deaths this year in Maricopa County, Ariz., which includes Phoenix. Temperatures there hit 118 degrees Fahrenheit this month.
In many cities, the sidewalks are hot enough to give people contact burns. The extreme heat is not just limited to desert cities, either: Sacramento and Portland, Ore., are also withering under the heat, and officials there are working on plans to increase tree cover and provide portable cooling units to vulnerable residents.
As Damien Cave and Somini Sengupta reported recently, extreme heat is leading to catastrophes at large gatherings. At least 1,300 people died at this year’s hajj, an Islamic pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, as temperatures reached 120 degrees. It’s expected to be sweltering during the upcoming Olympics in Paris, posing potential risks for athletes.
In India, dozens of poll workers died on the job during recent elections. And at music festivals in Australia, Europe and North America, concertgoers have become sick from heat. The frequency of heat-related mass casualty events has prompted India to create new heatstroke wards in big hospitals and educate local officials about how to prepare for extreme temperatures.
But the recent records weren’t just fueled by record heat in populated areas. Many of the most unusually warm places on Earth were near the poles.
“The sudden rise in daily global average temperature is related to much above-average temperatures over large parts of Antarctica,” according to Copernicus. That heat has lowered Antarctic sea ice levels, which, in turn, is heating up the Southern Ocean.
Remote regions near the North Pole — including areas of Canada, Russia and Greenland — are also experiencing above average temperatures.
“Extreme heat is the new abnormal,” Guterres said. While global average temperatures may come down a bit in the weeks and months ahead, the brutal math of climate change means that as long as the world keeps burning fossil fuels at a high rate, Earth is going to keep getting hotter.
Given that stark reality, Guterres called on countries to ramp up their efforts to protect the vulnerable. While the U.N. secretary general has little power himself, he encouraged governments to increase access to cooling stations, introduce better excessive-heat warning systems and pass laws that protect workers who are exposed to high temperatures. This month, President Biden introduced new proposed regulations to protect workers from heat.
Those are but some of the measures that could help. Cities including Lisbon and Medellín, Colombia, have managed to reduce urban temperatures by planting millions of new trees and shrubs. Other cities are painting rooftops and sidewalks white to reflect heat.
And for those stuck in a heat wave, there are simple ways to reduce your body heat, including blocking your windows from the sun and spritzing your skin with water.
“Today, our focus is on the impact of extreme heat,” Guterres said. “But let’s not forget that there are many other devastating symptoms of the climate crisis: Ever-more fierce hurricanes. Floods. Droughts. Wildfires. Rising sea levels. The list goes on. To tackle all these symptoms, we need to fight the disease. And the disease is the madness of incinerating our only home. The disease is the addiction to fossil fuels. The disease is climate inaction.”
Where Harris’s potential running mates stand on climate issues
Vice President Kamala Harris, now the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, has a long history as a climate-minded politician.
As California’s attorney general, she prosecuted polluters, and as a U.S. senator, she cosponsored the Green New Deal, a resolution that called on the nation to pivot away from fossil fuels but that never passed Congress. During her time as vice president, Harris helped broker the largest climate deal in U.S. history, the $370 billion Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
Now, her choice of running mate could help bolster her climate and energy agenda, or moderate her stance for voters in swing states.
So, where do some of the top contenders stand? Read more here.— Austyn Gaffney
