The world on Sunday recorded its hottest-ever day, as many parts of the Mediterranean face a heat wave that has led to extreme wildfire risks, climate change monitors say.
The global average surface air temperature on Sunday reached 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 Fahrenheit) — slightly higher than the previous record set last July of 17.08C, according to provisional data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Global average temperatures have already hit or exceeded a key climate threshold for 12 months, highlighting the challenge in limiting global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of heat waves, bringing extreme weather events from flooding to wildfires.
Heatwaves have scorched large swathes of the United States, Europe and Russia over the past week. Global warming is bringing hotter conditions to southern Europe, with temperatures exceeding 40C for the past two weeks in Greece. That is turbo-charging the threat from wildfires.
In Greece, there were 33 wildfires in 24 hours through 6.30pm on Monday. Athens and southern parts of the country remain on high alert. Cooler weather will bringing some relief this week, although temperatures are still expected to top 39C in some parts of the mainland on Tuesday.
Spain is also under extreme fire risk this week as temperatures soar in the south of the country. Seville and Cordoba will approach 43C on Wednesday, according to the Spanish forecaster AEMET. Parts of the south of France and Italy are also at risk from wildfires.
Further north, Berlin and Paris are set for heat wave conditions at the start of August. The mean temperature in the German capital is forecast to rise as high as 28C on Aug 6, 8 degrees above the 30-year norm.
Extreme heat has wreaked havoc across many parts of the global economy already this year, disrupting air travel to power grids.
The average temperature for the year through June 2024 was 1.64C higher than the era from 1850 to 1900, according to Copernicus. Last month was the hottest ever June, the 13th consecutive time a month has set a new average temperature record.
The Paris Agreement set in 2015 seeks to limit planetary warming to below 2C above the pre-industrial average, and ideally to 1.5C.