A record streak for the hottest temperatures has continued for the 11th month in a row, with April 2024 being the hottest month ever recorded by scientists.
Data from the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service C3S shows that April 2024 was hotter than any previously recorded April.
Records for this date back to 1940 with last month thought to be 1.58C warmer than the estimated average for pre-industrial levels.
April 2024 was the hottest April since records began
This comes as the global average temperature for the last 12 months (May 2023 to April 2024) was also registered as the highest on record.
Over this period, the temperature was 1.61C above the 1850-1900 period which is used as a benchmark for industrial levels.
It also found that Europe was the fastest-warming continent on Earth with temperatures being 1.49C above the 1990-2020 average for April.
The average global sea surface temperatures outside of polar regions were 21.04C, the hottest since records began for this in 1979.
🌍🔬 Have you already seen the 2023 #ESOTC report from #CopernicusClimate and @WMO? Here is a summary video highlighting some of the key findings.
— Copernicus ECMWF (@CopernicusECMWF) April 24, 2024
You can find the full report here 👉 https://t.co/kz0sATpmAz pic.twitter.com/kvvv8MvZfS
It is the 13th month in a row that the sea surface temperature has been the warmest on record for each month.
Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S): “El Nino peaked at the beginning of the year and the sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific are now going back towards neutral conditions.
“However, whilst temperature variations associated with natural cycles like El Nino come and go, the extra energy trapped into the ocean and the atmosphere by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will keep pushing the global temperature towards new records.”
April's temperature was marginally below the record seen in March of 21.07C.
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