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Key points
- Global sea surface temperatures reached an all-time high
- Global tropical cyclone activity was above average resulting in 19 tropical storms
- El Niño conditions triggered record high temperatures across a wide area of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean
The planet’s heat record is documented by monthly reports from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Service, the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and NASA.
The impact was felt throughout the world, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).WMO) said on Friday.
The Northern Hemisphere experienced its warmest summer yet while the Southern Hemisphere experienced its warmest winter on record.
Meanwhile, the Arctic and Antarctic each had below average sea ice cover in August.
Heat waves and drought
Western Europe saw heat wave in August, continuing the extraordinary extreme heat wave that began in May, and Severe drought conditions were reported in France, Hungary, Romania, Serbia and the UK.
Much of central and eastern Europe also experienced widespread drought in August, and in some cases continued drought since May.
The water flow rate is very low in major European riversincluding the Rhine, Danube, Southern Bug and Dnieper.
Why is it so hot?
El Niño was one of the causes of record climate conditions in August, the WMO reported.
This climate pattern influences global tropical cyclone activity as well as heavy rainfall and flooding in several countries.
Other countries are also affected by drought, and El Niño conditions are causing seasonal forest fires to intensify across Indonesia, as reported by the Copernicus Atmospheric Monitoring Service (CAMS).
What does it mean
Data shows that the 10 hottest Augusts on record have occurred since 2016.
In terms of heat, the global average surface air temperature in August is 1.65°C higher than the estimated pre-industrial baseline temperaturethe latest data revealed.
At the same time, global surface temperatures were 1.32°C above the 20th century average – the hottest August since records began in 1850, according to the US National Center for Environmental Information.
Predictions regarding the impact of El Niño are quite worrying.
“This is now already happening and will intensify into a very strong event in the coming months, with major impacts on rainfall and temperature patterns through 2027,” according to the WMO’s latest report. El Niño Update.
Tracking global climate
Organizations around the world help track global climate information.
WMO uses data sets from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, NOAA, NASA and others The State of the Global Climate report.
The UN weather agency will present the latest information on this year’s climate at the next UN climate conference, COP31in Antalya, Türkiye, in November.
