Heatwave horror: May 2024 sets yet another global temperature record
This is the twelfth consecutive month of record-breaking heat worldwide
May 2024 has dismayed scientists worldwide, claiming the title of the warmest May ever documented, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S). Scorching heat raised the global average surface air temperature by 0.65°C above the 1991-2020 mean, breaking records for the twelfth straight month.
The data released by C3S reveals May 2024’s global average temperatures climbed 1.52°C beyond the pre-industrial norm (1850-1900), continuing an unsettling streak – this marked the eleventh month in a row hitting 1.5°C or warmer.
Shockingly, the global average temperature over the last twelve months (June 2023-May 2024) ranks as the highest ever recorded, a jarring 0.75°C leap above the 1991-2020 average, and 1.63°C higher than pre-industrial times (-1900).
Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S, said: “It is shocking, but not surprising, that we have reached this 12-month streak. While this sequence of record-breaking months will eventually be interrupted, the general signature of climate change remains and there are no signs in sight of a change in that trend.”
But the outlook is even more bleak. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned that there’s an alarming 80% likelihood that global average annual temperatures will breach the critical +1.5°C threshold at least once in the next five years.
The sobering UN report highlights that we are edging closer to the Paris Agreement targets, which refer to long-term temperature increases over decades, not in a period of one to five years. Even so, the odds of smashing 1.5°C limits between 2024 and 2028 loom large, with projections estimating temperatures ranging between 1.1°C and 1.9°C higher than the 1850-1900 base.
Most worryingly, the WMO Annual Ten-Year Global Update states that the probability of the five-year average temperature (2024-2028) overshooting the pre-industrial era by 1.5°C has jumped from 32% to 47%.
Released on World Environment Day, the stark report echoed UN chief António Guterres' urgent call for drastic climate action before the G-7 Summit in Italy this June.
“We are playing Russian Roulette with our planet,” he said.
“We need an exit ramp from the highway that leads to climate hell. And the good news is that we have control of the wheel. The battle to limit temperature rise to 1.5°C will be won or lost in the 2020s, under the watchful eye of current leaders.”
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Image: Copernicus
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