Start of Week Sees Hottest Days on Record

Barbecues and fireworks weren’t the only things heating up on the 4th of July this year. The world itself was the hottest ever on Monday. Then it broke that record again on Tuesday. This is according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer Project (CRP). 

Tuesday’s numbers were indeed hot. Earth’s average temperature hit 17.18 degrees Celsius (62.9 degrees Fahrenheit). That's almost a full degree Celsius hotter than the daily average from 1979-2000. Cities in North America had the hottest or almost-hottest temperatures ever. Beijing, China, also continued to suffer through a heat wave that has lasted for two weeks.  

Scientists at CRP think that the "hottest day" record will be broken again soon. Why is this happening? Environmentalists say it's because of climate change caused by humans and warm ocean currents from El Niño. Both of these things are making the world's average temperatures go up. Professor Jason Furtado told The Associated Press (AP) that we have been seeing a lot of unusually hot weather this year.  

Scientists are also worried about what's happening in Antarctica.  According to CRP, the South Pole was 4.5 degrees Celsius hotter than its average from 1979-2000. That further threatens ice caps that have already been melting quicker than before. Chris Field is a Stanford University climate scientist. He sees the data as further proof that a warmer world is here to stay. 

“A record like this is another piece of evidence … that global warming is pushing us into a hotter future,” he told the AP.   

Photo from Reuters.

Reflect: How do you think extreme weather events, like the record-breaking temperatures, can affect our environment and the living things around us?