World hits 12 straight months of record-high temperatures — but as warming continues, it’ll be “remembered as comparatively cold”

The world has now completed a full year of consecutive monthly meetings heat records, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced on Wednesday. He said last month was the hottest May on record – the 12th consecutive month in which the monthly record for high temperatures was broken.

It was also the 11th consecutive month in which the global average temperature was at least 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average. If this trend continues, it would mean the world is passing a major climate change milestone.

The average May temperature was 1.52 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, Copernicus reported, while the global average temperature from June 2023 to May 2024 was 1.63 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

The pre-industrial average refers to the period before the sharp increase in greenhouse gas emissions, which trap the sun’s heat in Earth’s atmosphere and warm the planet. Experts have long warned that keeping average global temperatures no more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above that mark is critical to reducing the risk of rampant damage from rising global temperatures. As the planet warms, the heat leads to more precipitation and the melting of sea ice, fueling Extreme weather conditions that can result in changing coastlines, agricultural issues, mass migration and damage health consequences.

Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said the 12-month period “is shocking but not surprising”, and that although the period is likely to be interrupted at some point, “the overall signature of climate change remains”.

“There is no sign of this trend changing,” he said. “We live in unprecedented times. This series of warmer months will be remembered as comparatively cool.”

While exceeding 1.5 degrees of warming every month for nearly a year indicates a worrying trend, scientists say, it will take several years of continued high temperatures for the world to officially surpass that benchmark. However, deadly heat wavesfloods, hurricanes and other conditions have already worsened as the climate changes.

“Millions of people around the world are already suffering the impacts of climate change,” NOAA’s Climate.gov it says. “…The 1.5°C climate threshold is not a light switch that turns on all kinds of climate calamities. For every little additional warming, the risk of negative impacts gets worse.”

The main way to reduce the rise in global temperatures is to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. Doing so requires reducing the burning of fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, as they release most of these gases. Climate experts from United Nations explain that carbon dioxide is the most abundant of these gases, while methane it is the most potent, accounting for more than a quarter of all global warming.

Buontempo said that if the world acts quickly to reduce concentrations of these gases, “we may be able to return to these ‘cold’ temperatures by the end of the century.”

For now, the expectation is that the heat will continue. In the US, authorities predict another summer of dangerously high temperatures in most of the country. California is already facing wildfires and the Southeast is preparing for one intense hurricane season. Last week, dozens of people in India died because of the scorching heat, while last month deadly floods hit Afghanistan It is Brazil.

“It is time for a climate crisis,” said UN Secretary-General António Guterres in a statement. “…Our planet is trying to tell us something. But we don’t seem to be listening. We’re breaking global temperature records and reaping the turmoil.”