June 2024 has marked the 13th consecutive month of record-breaking global temperatures, and the 12th month in a row above 1.5° pre-industrial levels, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Copernicus is the EU’s flagship earth observation programme which reports on the changes observed in global surface air and sea temperatures, sea ice cover, and hydrological variables.
June 2024 was warmer globally than any previous June in the data record, with an average surface air temperature of 16.66°. This 0.67° above the 1991-2020 average for June and 0.14° above the previous high set in June 2023.
This is the 13th month in a row that is the warmest in the data record for the respective month of the year. While unusual, a similar streak of monthly global temperature records happened previously in 2015/2016, according to Copernicus.
Climate targets
The month was also 1.50° above the estimated June average for the period between 1850 and 1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period, making it the 12th consecutive month to reach or break the 1.5° threshold.
The Paris Agreement – the legally binding international treaty on climate change – sets the target of limiting global warming to well below 2°, preferably to 1.5° compared to pre-industrial levels.
However, the Copernicus Climate Change Service stressed that the 1.5° and 2° limits set in the Paris Agreement are targets for the average temperature of the planet over a 20 or 30-year period.
Commenting on the latest data showing that record-breaking global temperatures are continuing, the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, Carlo Buontempo said this highlights a “large and continuing shift” in our climate.
“Even if this specific streak of extremes ends at some point, we are bound to see new records being broken as the climate continues to warm.
“This is inevitable, unless we stop adding GHG [greenhouse gases] into the atmosphere and the oceans,” according to the director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Global temperatures
June 2024 was wetter than average over Iceland, central and most of south-western Europe, with heavy precipitation leading to floods in regions of Germany, Italy, France and Switzerland.
The month was drier than average over Ireland, most of the UK, Fennoscandia, southern Italy and much of eastern Europe, particularly around the Black Sea.
It was wetter than average over parts of North America, with a series of storms. It was wetter than average also over south-western and south-eastern Asia, southernmost Africa, and regions of Australia and South America.
Drier-than-average conditions were seen across North America, several regions of Asia and most of South America. Severe wildfires occurred in northeastern Russia and central South America.
Surface air temperature highlights for June 2024 reported by the Copernicus Climate Change Service include:
- The global-average temperature for the past 12 months (July 2023 – June 2024) is the highest on record, at 0.76° above the 1991-2020 average and 1.64° above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average;
- The average European temperature for June 2024 was 1.57° above the 1991-2020 average for June, making the month the joint-second warmest June on record for Europe;
- European temperatures were most above average over southeast regions and Turkey, but near or below average over western Europe, Iceland and northwestern Russia;
- Outside Europe, temperatures were most above average over eastern Canada, the western US and Mexico, Brazil, northern Siberia, the Middle East, northern Africa and western Antarctica;
- Temperatures were below average over the eastern equatorial Pacific, indicating a developing La Niña, but air temperatures over the ocean remained at an unusually high level over many regions.
The sea surface temperature (SST) averaged for June 2024 over 60°S–60°N was 20.85°, the highest value on record for the month. This is the 15th month in a row that the SST has been the warmest for the respective month of the year.
Latest data by the EU’s flagship earth observation programme also shows that in June 2024 arctic sea ice extent was 3% below average, close to the values observed most years since 2010.
Antarctic sea ice extent was 12% below average. This is the second-lowest extent for June in the satellite data record, behind the lowest June value of – 16% observed in 2023.