June’s record-smashing temperatures in data: We haven’t seen this

The Highest Temperatures in a Single Day: Extreme Weather and the Earth’s Climate Anomaly Over the Past 12 Months

Mexico has experienced extreme heat for weeks, with temperatures hitting 49C. There has been a heat wave in the southern United States.

The global average temperature was predicted to be 61.9 degrees Fahrenheit on July 4, according to the climate models. The previous daily record was set on August 14, 2016 and it’s a half degree higher. And while an average temperature in the 60s may sound low, the daily global temperature estimate includes the entire planet, including Antarctica.

The oceans are warmer than ever: in June, the sea surface temperature anomaly — which tracks how much the current temperature varies from the historical average — was 1.1°C above the average from 1982 to the present.

The heat has wreaked havoc in places such as Canada and Mexico, with dire consequences such as pollution from fires, and deaths from a lengthy heatwave. Researchers say that human-made climate change is responsible for the increased intensity of the “heat dome” over Southern America.

The long-term trend is not as important as the broken records that tell us what has happened on the Earth’s atmosphere. The effects of the hottest day pale in comparison to the damage done to the planet by decades of warming.

Whether or not the weather breaks a record is deadly. Extremely high temperatures make it impossible to work or exercise safely outside, exacerbate heart and lung diseases and worsen air pollution. Heat is particularly dangerous for people who work outdoors and for babies and elderly people. And when heat combines with humidity, it is even more deadly.

Lowest sea ice extent recorded on record in June, an anomaly caused by the 2006 June 19th freeze-momentum melt

Eric Holthaus is a weather service founder who believes that this is evidence of destabilization of the global climate system.

The amount of sea ice globally also veered far from the June average. The lowest extent was recorded on 29 June at 21.78 million square kilometres, an anomaly of –3.84 square kilometres, according to data from NASA’s snow and ice data centre. Sea ice in June was at an all time low in the middle of winter. This is the lowest sea ice on record for June and it’s the 10th time in the past 18 months that sea ice has set a new low. Sea ice can be hard to predicted, but given the recent history, I think it’s hard to see it bouncing back much in the next year. Sea-ice loss affects a lot of other things, not the least of which is the timing of the annual freeze and melt.

Parts of Canada have seen temperatures exceed the average for June, as well as catastrophic fires. The maximum amount of carbon released to the atmosphere during the entire wildfire season runs until late August, but the amount released in June surpassed it. In Canada, the fires usually start in July or early August. But what you can see here is a June that is 10 times more important than any previous June in the record,” says Smith. This is directly linked to the heatwave, he adds.

The bad news is that we don’t know what to do. It’s not like it’s some alien invasion or black hole that’s approaching us or something,” says Holthaus. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said that we need to reduce fossil- fuel emissions as quickly as possible.