The planet recorded three warmest months in a row

The planet, since last August, three warmest consecutive months since records exist, according to data confirmed by the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced this Wednesday that last month was August by a significant margin warmer also the second warmest of any month since records began, after this past July broke all records.

August between 1850 and 1900 is estimated to have been 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial era, and the year 2023 is considered (with measurements from January to August) to be the second warmest so far after 2016.

In both years – 2016 and 2023 – El Niño developed, a strong climatic phenomenon that increases the water temperatures of the equatorial eastern Pacific and accentuates certain meteorological phenomena in different parts of the planet, such as heavy rains or droughts.

Service observations Copernicus, funded by the European Union, show that last August monthly sea surface temperatures were the highest ever recorded – compared to any other month of the year – at 20.98 degrees.

So last month, previous record temperatures were exceeded every day, corresponding to March 2016.

Another aspect that reflects the dramatic changes in the climate is the reduction of Arctic ice cover, which remains at a record low for this time of year, with a monthly value 12% below average.

This is the largest negative anomaly for August since satellite observations of that area of ​​the planet began in the late 1970s.

The Secretary General of the WMO, the Finnish scientist Petteri Taalas, reminded that the Northern Hemisphere has lived in the last two months “summer of all extremes” and that this happened before the El Niño phenomenon developed its full impact, which is mostly recorded in the second year of its development, i.e. 2024.

“What we are observing is a clear consequence of the warming of the climate system,” the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service Carlos Buontempo was quoted as saying in the statement.