World breaks hottest-day record for third time this week - U.S. agency

[July 08, 2023]  By Jake Spring
 
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - The world recorded its hottest day ever on Thursday, breaking previous highs set on Monday and Tuesday as global average temperatures continue to climb, according to data from the U.S. National Centers on Environmental Prediction.  

A woman walks with cold patches on her forehead and neck amid a red alert for heatwave in Beijing, China June 23, 2023. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang/

The global average temperature hit 17.23 degrees Celsius (63.01 Fahrenheit) on Thursday, according to the government agency.

The record comes days after intense heatwaves in the United States and China, while another killed more than 100 people in Mexico, as temperatures soar globally.

On Thursday, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said June was the hottest month ever, smashing the previous June record in 2019 by a substantial margin.

"Such records are the predictable consequence of a short-term El Niño temperature boost coming on top of the long-term global warming trend due to mankind's greenhouse gas emissions," said Robert Rohde, lead scientist for climate science nonprofit Berkeley Earth, on Twitter.

The El Nino weather pattern emerged this year, bringing warm sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific Ocean.

After the previous daily high from August 2016 was first broken on Monday, several scientists predicted more record-setting days this year.

"Expect many more hottest days in the future," said Saleemul Huq, director of Bangladesh's International Centre for Climate Change and Development, in a statement.

(Reporting by Jake Spring; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

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