July is probably the warmest month in centuries – says NASA

According to the chief climatologist of the US space agency NASA, July 2023 will be the hottest month in the world in “hundreds, if not thousands of years”.

“We are seeing unprecedented changes around the world, the heat waves we are seeing in the US, Europe and China are breaking records,” Gavin Schmidt told reporters on Thursday.

Several heat records have already been broken this month, according to measurements from the European Union and the University of Maine, which use ground and satellite data to model preliminary estimates. While they differed slightly, the trend of extreme heat is undeniable and will likely be confirmed by the more robust monthly reports from US officials, Schmidt added.

El Niño not solely responsible

In addition, not only the weather phenomenon El Niño, which “has just begun”, can be held responsible for the effects. Although El Niño plays a small role, it is “the global heat, pretty much everywhere, especially in the oceans”. It has seen record high sea surface temperatures, even outside the tropics, for many months, Schmidt noted.

The climate scientist also assumes that the development will continue “because we continue to emit greenhouse gases into the atmosphere”.

2023 could well be the hottest year

The current weather phenomena increase the likelihood that 2023 will be the hottest year on record. According to Schmidt’s calculations, the probability is 50/50. Other scientists put the probability at 80 percent, he said.

“We expect 2024 to be an even hotter year as we will start it off with the El Niño phenomenon just starting to build up and which will peak at the end of this year.” (sda/afp)