This year will likely be the warmest on record globally, scientists have warned.
The prediction comes after the European Union’s climate monitoring service (Copernicus) recorded the hottest summer since measurements began.
Despite the UK experiencing its coolest summer since 2015, temperatures were above average across much of Europe, according to Copernicus.
Temperatures hit the low 40s in parts of southern Europe earlier this summer, sparking rare red weather alerts, droughts and wildfire warnings in parts of Greece and Italy.
Records were set just last year with a temporary boost from an El Nino dialling up temperatures and extreme weather.
But the northern meteorological summer – June, July, and August – averaged 16.8C this year, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
That is 0.03C warmer than the old record in 2023.
In addition, the global average temperature for the past 12 months (September 2023 to August 2024) has been 0.7C above the 1991-2020 average – the highest on record for any 12-month period.
Outside of Europe, temperatures were also above average over eastern Antarctica, Texas, Mexico, Canada, northeast Africa, Iran, China, Japan, and Australia.
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Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, said: “During the past three months of 2024, the globe has experienced the hottest June and August, the hottest day on record, and the hottest boreal summer on record.
“This string of record temperatures is increasing the likelihood of 2024 being the hottest year on record.
“The temperature-related extreme events witnessed this summer will only become more intense, with more devastating consequences for people and the planet unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”
Copernicus records go back to 1940, which the scientists cross-checked with other data to confirm this summer was the hottest since the 1850 pre-industrial period.