Earth’s average temperature hits record high

For the third straight day, Earth’s average temperature either matched a record or set a new record as of Wednesday, July 5. According to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition, the average global temperature was 62.9 F degrees on Wednesday and Tuesday, July 4.

Tuesday and Wednesday’s average temperature topped the previous record of 62.6 F degrees set on Monday, July 3. While the Climate Reanalyzer is not an official government record, the record-high average temperature has caught the attention of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist Sarah Kapnick.

“This is a combination of climate change creating warmer years on record as a steady march as we’re going up, where we’re seeing this warmth over time. And it’s also the development of El Nino. During an El Nino year, particularly when we get moderate or strong El Ninos, those are typically some of the warmest years every single decade,” Kapnick said. “So this is the warmth of the El Nino, the developing ocean temperatures, on top of the climate change signal, which pushes us into this potential for record breaking days, months, years to occur.”

One of the largest contributors to Earth’s record-warm average temperature is an exceptionally mild winter in the Antarctic. Parts of the continent and nearby ocean were 18-36 degrees warmer than averages from 1979-2000.

Parts of the United States have also played a contributing factor. 38 million Americans were under some kind of heat alert Wednesday.

Scientists have warned for months that 2023 could see record heat as  the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil warmed the atmosphere. Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field said the recent records are “another piece of evidence for the now massively supported proposition that global warming pushing us into a hotter future.”

“I think that this extreme warmth that we’re seeing is an indication that we’re going to continue to see these until we no longer have greenhouse gases entering the atmosphere and continue to lead to climate change,” Kapnick said. “We’re going to continue to break records as climate change continues until that point where emissions of greenhouse gases are no longer accumulating in the atmosphere.”