{"id":32665,"date":"2023-07-27T19:27:10","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T01:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/scientists-calculate-that-july-is-the-warmest-month-on-record\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:01:23","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:01:23","slug":"scientists-calculate-that-july-is-the-warmest-month-on-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.durangoherald.com\/tj\/scientists-calculate-that-july-is-the-warmest-month-on-record\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists calculate that July is the warmest month on record"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"A
A woman fans herself in Madrid, Spain, on July 10. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen. Bernat Armangue\/The Associated Press<\/span>Bernat Armangue<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

WASHINGTON \u2013 July has been so hot thus far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat through.<\/p>\n

The World Meteorological Organization and the European Union\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Thursday proclaimed July\u2019s heat is beyond record-smashing. They said Earth\u2019s temperature has been temporarily passing over a key warming threshold: the internationally accepted goal<\/a> of limiting global warming<\/a> to 1.5 degree Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit).<\/p>\n

Temperatures were 1.5 degrees warmer than preindustrial times <\/a>for a record 16 days this month, but the Paris climate accord aims to keep the 20- or 30-year global temperature average to 1.5 degrees. A few days of temporarily beating that threshold have happened before, but never in July.<\/p>\n

July has been so off-the-charts hot with heat waves blistering three continents \u2013 North America, Europe and Asia \u2013 that researchers said a record was inevitable. The U.S. Southwest\u2019s all-month heat wave is showing no signs of stopping while also pushing into most of the Midwest and East with more than 128 million Americans under some kind of heat advisory<\/a> Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnless an ice age were to appear all of sudden out of nothing, it is basically virtually certain we will break the record for the warmest July on record and the warmest month on record,\u201d Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo told The Associated Press.<\/p>\n

Scientists say that such shattering of heat records is a harbinger for future climate-altering changes as the planet warms. Those changes go beyond just prolonged heat waves and include more flooding, longer-burning wildfires and extreme weather events that put many people at risk.<\/p>\n

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres pointed to the calculations and urged world leaders, in particular of rich nations, to do more to reduce emissions of heat-trapping gases. Despite years of international climate negotiations and lofty pledges from many countries and companies, greenhouse gas emissions continue to go up.<\/p>\n

\u201cClimate change is here. It is terrifying. And it is just the beginning,\u201d Guterres told reporters in a New York briefing. \u201cThe era of global warming has ended; the era of global boiling has arrived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buontempo and other scientists said the records are from human-caused climate change augmented by a natural El Nino warming of parts of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide. But Buontempo said ocean warming in the Atlantic also has been so high \u2013 though far away from the El Nino \u2013 that\u2019s there\u2019s even more at play. While scientists long predicted the world would continue to warm and have bouts of extreme weather, he said he was surprised by the spike in ocean temperatures and record-shattering loss of sea ice in Antarctica.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe climate seems to be going crazy at times,\u201d Buontempo said.<\/p>\n

Copernicus calculated that through the first 23 days of July, Earth\u2019s temperature averaged 16.95 degrees Celsius (62.5 degrees Fahrenheit). That\u2019s nearly one-third of a degree Celsius (almost 0.6 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than the previous record for the hottest month, July 2019.<\/p>\n

Normally records are broken by hundredths of a degree Celsius, maybe a tenth at most, said Russell Vose, climate analysis group director for the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.<\/p>\n

Usually records aren\u2019t calculated until a week or longer after a month\u2019s end. But Vose, who wasn\u2019t part of the research, his NASA record-keeping counterpart Gavin Schmidt and six other outside scientists said the Copernicus calculations make sense.<\/p>\n

Buontempo\u2019s team found that 21 of the first 23 days of July were hotter than any previous days in the database.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe last few weeks have been rather remarkable and unprecedented in our record\u201d based on data that goes back to the 1940s, Buontempo said.<\/p>\n

Both the WMO-Copernicus team and an independent German scientist who released his data at the same time came to these conclusions by analyzing forecasts, live observations, past records and computer simulations.<\/p>\n

Separate from Copernicus, Karsten Haustein at Leipzig University did his own calculations, using forecasts that show at best the warming may weaken a tad at the end of month, and came to the conclusion that July 2023 will pass the old record by 0.2 degrees Celsius (. 36 degrees Fahrenheit).<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s way beyond everything we see,\u201d Haustein said in his own press briefing. \u201cWe are in absolutely record territory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haustein said even though records only go back to the middle of the 19th century, using tree rings, ice cores and other proxies he calculates that this month is the hottest in about 120,000 years, which Buontempo said makes sense. Other scientists have made similar calculations<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason that setting new temperature records is a big deal is that we are now being challenged to find ways to survive through temperatures hotter than any of us have ever experienced before,\u201d University of Wisconsin-Madison climate scientist Andrea Dutton said in an email. \u201cSoaring temperatures place ever increasing strains not just on power grids and infrastructure, but on human bodies that are not equipped to survive some of the extreme heat we are already experiencing.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no accident that the hottest July on record has brought deadly heat waves in the U.S.<\/a> and Mexico<\/a>, China<\/a> and southern Europe<\/a>, smoke-causing wildfires<\/a> and heavy floods<\/a> worldwide, said Imperial College of London climate scientist Friederike Otto.<\/p>\n

The average temperature being measured is like \u201cthe fever temperature that we measure for our planet,\u201d Otto said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in uncharted territory as far as humans on this planet are concerned, so our records are falling with increasing frequency and that\u2019s exactly what we expect to \u2013 and what we\u2019ve been predicting would \u2013 happen,\u201d said Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe.<\/p>\n

In the middle of some of the worst heat, where Phoenix is now at a record 27 straight days and counting<\/a> of 110 degrees or higher temperatures, University of Arizona climate scientist Katharine Jacobs said the records are giving humanity a message about reducing emissions of heat-trapping gases from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvents like this are signposts along a highway we don\u2019t want to travel,\u201d Jacobs said in an email. \u201cIt is time to stop playing political games and get serious in order to protect ourselves and future generations.<\/p>\n

Jamey Keaten contributed from Geneva and Edith Lederer from the United Nations.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"A
A man runs along a small road in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany, as the sun rises on July 13. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record. Michael Probst\/The Associaterdf Press<\/span>Michael Probst<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 A woman protects herself from the sun with an umbrella as she passes a water mist machine to cool down during a hot day at Ledras pedestrian shopping street in the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, July 26, 2023. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat. (AP Photo\/Petros Karadjias, File)<\/span>Petros Karadjias<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 The City of Phoenix Heat Response Program team volunteers Natalie Boyd, left, and David Coughenour, right, prepare heat relief kits for the public in need July 20, 2023, in Phoenix. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat. (AP Photo\/Ross D. Franklin, File)<\/span>Ross D. Franklin<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 Young men cool themselves off in a waterfall in Islamabad, Pakistan, July 14, 2023. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat. (AP Photo\/Anjum Naveed, File)<\/span>Anjum Naveed<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 A man stands in a fountain in Bucharest, Romania, on a hot afternoon, July 25, 2023. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat. (AP Photo\/Andreea Alexandru, File)<\/span>Andreea Alexandru<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 A woman from Niger carries her baby and a bottle of water on her head, July 8, 2023. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat. (AP Photo\/Anis Belghoul, File)<\/span>Anis Belghoul<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 A child plunges his hat into a fountain as he waits for the start of Pope Francis' Angelus prayer in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican, July 16, 2023. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat. (AP Photo\/Gregorio Borgia, File)<\/span>Gregorio Borgia<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 A man, who is homeless, drinks water as he wears a wet towel on his head, given to him by Maribel Padilla of the Brown Bag Coalition, July 20, 2023, in Calexico, California, Once temperatures hit 113 degrees Fahrenheit (45 Celsius), Padilla and the Brown Bag Coalition meet up with people who are homeless in Calexico, providing them with a cold, wet towel, and some refreshments to help them endure the scorching temperatures. (AP Photo\/Gregory Bull, File)<\/span>Gregory Bull<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 A boy wearing a military uniform drinks water as he and his schoolmates take part in a tour activities on a sweltering day in Beijing, July 25, 2023. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat. (AP Photo\/Andy Wong, File)<\/span>Andy Wong<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"FILE
FILE \u2013 Tourists use umbrellas to shelter as they visit Rome, July 22, 2023. July has been so hot so far that scientists calculate that this month will be the hottest globally on record and likely the warmest human civilization has seen, even though there are several days left to sweat. (AP Photo\/Andrew Medichini, File)<\/span>Andrew Medichini<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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