World sets third consecutive hottest-day record within a week, says US agency

Washington: The world experienced its hottest day ever on Thursday, surpassing the previous highs recorded earlier in the same week. Data from the US National Centers on Environmental Prediction highlighted that the global average temperatures continue to rise.

On Thursday, the global average temperature reached 17.23 degrees Celsius (63.01 Fahrenheit), marking a new record, the government agency confirmed.

This record-breaking day comes in the wake of intense heatwaves in the United States and China, as well as a deadly heatwave in Mexico, where more than 100 people died. The scorching temperatures are indicative of the rising global temperatures observed worldwide.

Adding to the concerning trend, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service recently declared that June 2023 was the hottest month ever recorded, surpassing the previous June record set in 2019 by a significant margin. Scientists attribute these records to the combined effects of short-term El Niño temperature boosts and the long-term global warming trend caused by human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.

Robert Rohde, the lead scientist for climate science nonprofit Berkeley Earth, emphasised the predictable consequence of these records on Twitter. The emergence of the El Niño weather pattern this year has resulted in warmer sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean, contributing to the global heatwave, reported Reuters.

Following the initial breaking of the previous daily high-temperature record from August 2016 earlier in the week, several scientists predicted that more record-setting days are likely to occur this year.

Saleemul Huq, director of Bangladesh's International Centre for Climate Change and Development, said, "Expect many more hottest days in the future," highlighting the urgency of addressing climate change.