(NEW YORK) — The planet reached the hottest day on record for the second day in a row, according to preliminary data from Copernicus, Europe’s climate change service.
Earth’s daily global average temperature hit 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 degrees Fahrenheit) on Monday, setting a new record for the warmest day in the organization’s dataset, which started in 1940.
This beats the previous record of 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit) set the day before, Copernicus announced Wednesday in an updated report.
The top 10 highest annual maximum daily average temperatures on record all occurred in the last 10 years, according to Copernicus. Multiple years between 2015 to 2024 not only set new records but broke them by large margins, the data show.
Earth’s warmest days on record
1. July 22, 2024: 17.15 degrees Celsius (62.87 degrees Fahrenheit)
2. July 21, 2024: 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit)
3. July, 6, 2023: 17.08 degrees Celsius (62.74 degrees Fahrenheit)
4. Aug. 13, 2016: 16.80 degrees Celsius (62.24 degrees Fahrenheit)
Much of the U.S. will continue to experience scorching heat in the coming week
The global average temperature typically reaches its peak between late July and early August.
In the U.S., persistent, extreme heat will be blanketing much of the country for the foreseeable future, forecasts show.
July tends to be the hottest month in the U.S. The majority of the country will likely experience above-average temperatures for the remainder of July into early August, with several significant heat waves likely for parts of the Northeast and West.
The South typically sees peak average temperatures during the second half of August, while the West Coast sees its hottest temperatures into September.
Summer nighttime low temperatures in the U.S. are warming nearly twice as fast as summer daytime high temperatures, according to Climate Central.
Earth has experienced 13 consecutive months of record-breaking global temperatures, according to Copernicus.
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