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New record daily global average temperature reached in July 2024 [1]

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Date: 2024-08

This article was originally published on 23 July 2024, and has been updated on 24 and 25 July 2024 to reflect the latest statistics and records.

The Earth has just experienced its warmest day in recent history, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) data. On 22 July 2024, the daily global average temperature reached a new record high in the ERA5 dataset*, at 17.16°C. This exceeds the previous records of 17.09°C, set just one day before on 21 July 2024, and 17.08°C, set a year earlier on 6 July 2023.

Based on data released by C3S on 25 July, Monday 22 July was the hottest day in the ERA5 dataset, which begins in 1940. The temperature on 23 July was very similar, at 17.15°C**.

While the temperature on 21 July 2024 (17.09ºC) was almost indistinguishable from the previous record of 17.08ºC reached on 6 July 2023, the difference between these and the new record temperature (17.16°C) reached on 22 July is larger than typical differences in day-to-day variations among alternative datasets.

What really stands out is also the difference between the temperatures since July 2023 and all previous years. The data can be explored in Climate Pulse, the C3S application that provides historical and near-real-time temperature data from the ERA5 reanalysis dataset.

Daily global average surface air temperature for 2024 (red), 2023 (orange), and all years between 1940 and 2022 (grey). Red shading indicates the difference between the daily global average temperatures from 2023 to 2024, for days where 2024 has been warmer than 2023. Data for 22 July 2024 is preliminary. Data source: ERA5, via Climate Pulse. Credit: C3S/ECMWF

Before July 2023, the previous daily global average temperature record was 16.8°C, on 13 August 2016. From 3 July 2023 to 23 July 2024 there have been 59 days that have exceeded that previous record, distributed between July and August 2023, and during June and July so far in 2024.

Commenting on the record set on 21 July 2024, C3S Director Carlo Buontempo said: "On July 21st, C3S recorded a new record for the daily global mean temperature. What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records. 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."

Following the new record for 22 July 2024, Carlo Buontempo added: “We now have a new record, and its value is sufficiently large to indicate with some confidence that this has exceeded the record set only last year. The event is still ongoing and it is possible the date of the peak may still change, but our data suggest we may see slightly lower temperatures in the next few days.”

Read more about the range of uncertainty of these data records.

Analysis of the years with the highest annual maximum daily global temperatures shows that both 2023 and 2024 have seen annual highs substantially above those recorded in previous years.

Another sign of the global warming trend is the fact that the ten years with the highest annual maximum daily average temperatures are the last ten years, from 2015 to 2024.

The difference between the lowest ranked of those ten years (2015) and the previous record prior to 2023 (13 August 2016) was 0.2°C. The jump from the 2016 record to 2023 is 0.28°C, and to the new 2024 record is 0.36°C, highlighting how substantial the warmth of 2023 and 2024 is (explore the data in the interactive chart below).

Annual maximum daily global average temperatures in the ERA5 record for the past 50 years (1974 to 2024). The ten highest annual maximum temperatures are highlighted in dark red. Data for 2024 are available up to 23 July 2024 at the time of publishing. Data source: ERA5. Credit: C3S/ECMWF.

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[1] Url: https://climate.copernicus.eu/new-record-daily-global-average-temperature-reached-july-2024

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