August Joins July 2023 as Hottest Month Ever Recorded
BBC News - Matt McGrath, Environment correspondent
August was the joint-hottest month ever recorded, tying with July 2023, according to the EU's climate service.
The Record:
- Driven by a combination of climate change and El Niño.
- Temperatures 1.65C above pre-industrial levels, surpassing the critical 1.5C threshold to avoid worst consequences of climate change.
- Western Europe's warmest summer, with high temperatures past the deadly heat of 2003.
Dr Samantha Burgess, strategic lead for climate at Copernicus:
"August was a remarkable month in the global climate record", she said, describing its impacts increasingly being felt worldwide.
UN Climate Chief Simon Stiell:
"The evidence is irrefutable: this is the spiralling price of humanity's fossil fuel addiction, and the global climate crisis it is fuelling."
El Niño Impact:
- Current El Niño expected to intensify over coming year, potentially setting more records.
Western Europe's Warmest Summer:
- UK had its hottest summer since records began in 1884, made 130 times more likely by human-caused climate change.
- Heatwaves disrupted schools, strained hospitals, hit food production, fuelled fires and drought, claiming "tens of thousands of lives".