According to Copernicus Climate Change Service’s latest publication, the summer of 2024 was the warmest ever recorded worldwide and for Europe. August 2024 was the second warmest August globally (along with August 2023), with an average surface air temperature of 16.82°C, or 0.71°C above the August average from 1991-2020.
August 2024 was 1.51°C above pre-industrial levels, the 13th month in a 14-month period in which the average surface temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
Highest temperatures
The average temperature over the past 12 months (September 2023 – August 2024) is the highest measured temperature over 12 months: 0.76°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.64°C above the pre-industrial average from 1850-1900.
The average temperature for mainland Europe in August 2024 was 1.57°C above the August average of 1991-2020. European temperatures were mostly above average in southern and eastern Europe but below average in northwestern Ireland, the United Kingdom, Iceland, the west coast of Portugal, and southern Norway.
Arctic sea ice extent below average
Outside Europe, temperatures were above average over East Antarctica, Texas, Mexico, Canada, Northeast Africa, Iran, China, Japan, and Australia. Temperatures were lower than average in far eastern Russia and Alaska, the eastern United States, parts of southern South America, Pakistan, and the Sahel.
The mean sea surface temperature for August 2024 was 20.91°C, the second-highest value on record.
August 2024 was drier than average across most of continental Europe. Outside Europe, August 2024 was wetter than average in eastern North America, central Russia, east China, and eastern Australia.
Arctic sea ice extent was 17% below average, the fourth lowest for August in the satellite record, and well below average compared to the same month in the three previous years.
Boreal summer
The global average temperature for boreal summer (June-August) 2024 was the highest temperature ever recorded for these three months at 0.69°C above the 1991-2020 average, surpassing the previous record of June-August 2023 (0.66°C).
The average temperature for mainland Europe during the summer (June-August) of 2024 was 1.54°C above the 1991-2020 average, the highest temperature ever recorded for that season. It also exceeded the previous record set in 2022 (1.34°C).
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