July 21 was hottest day since 1940, says EU climate service

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) says the earth experienced its hottest day on July 21.

In its report, the organisation said the daily global average temperature reached a new record high of 17.09°C, slightly exceeding the previous record of 17.08°C from July 6, 2023.

The EU’s climate service said Sunday, July 21 was the hottest day since at least 1940, by a small margin of 0.01ºC.

The report said that prior to the July 2023 record, the previous daily global average temperature record stood at 16.8°C, which was recorded on August 13, 2016.

However, C3S said since July 3, 2023, there have been 57 days that have surpassed this previous record.

The organisation said these record-breaking temperatures have been observed during the months of July and August 2023, as well as in June and July of 2024.

Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S, said the world may witness more record-breaking temperatures in the months and years to come.

“What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,” he said.

“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.”

Every month since June 2023 has now ranked as the planet’s hottest since records began, compared with the corresponding month in previous years.

The EU’s climate service had earlier said that June 2024 was the hottest June in history.