The month of July has been marked as the world's hottest month ever recorded, and it remains very likely that 2021 will
rank among the 10-warmest years on record, new data has revealed. According to new global data released by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), extreme heat is a reflection of the long-term climatic changes.
outlined in a major report released this week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
"This new record adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe," the NOAA said in a statement late on Friday.
The combined land and ocean-surface temperature was 1.67 degrees Fahrenheit (0.93 of a degree Celsius) above the 20th-century average of 60.4 degrees F (15.8 degrees Celsius), making it the hottest July since records began 142 years ago.
It was 0.02 of a degree Fahrenheit (0.01 of a degree C) higher than the previous record set in July 2016, which was then tied in 2019 and 2020.
The land-surface only temperature was the highest ever recorded for July, at an unprecedented 2.77 degrees Fahrenheit (1.54 degrees Celsius) above average, surpassing the previous record set in 2012.
Asia had its hottest July on record, besting the previous record set in 2010.
Reports of heavy rain, meanwhile, continued to trickle in, this time from southern Russia, forcing the evacuation of more than 1,500 people, officials said on Saturday; at least 40 people have been killed in severe northern Turkey floods, too.In another extreme, wildfires raged as heatwave hit Southern Europe. Experts have linked wildfires to the record-high temperatures. Temperatures in Siracuse, Italy, reached 48.8 degrees Celsius on Wednesday.The World Meteorological Organization said that it would be investigating the validity of this temperature report. If verified, it would become the highest temperature ever recorded in Europe. Greece has been one of the badly affected countries, with more than 100,000 hectares of forestry and farmland burned in less than two weeks, according to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
The Greek government said there have been nearly 600 fires since the beginning of August.Japan, in turn, has ordered the evacuation of 1.23 million people in four southwestern provinces owing to heavy rainfall, media reported on Saturday.The IPCC climate report has provided estimates of the chances of crossing the global warming level of 1.5 degree Celsius in the next decades, and finds that unless there are immediate, rapid, and large-scale reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, limiting warming to close to 1.5 degree Celsius or even 2 degree Celsius will be beyond reach.
