Earth's average temperature remained at a record high yesterday after two days in which we reached unofficial records. It's the latest in a series of climate-change-driven extremes. Via CBS News:
The average global temperature was 62.9 degrees, according to the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world's condition. That matched a record set Tuesday and came after a previous record of 62.6 degrees was set Monday.
Not only that but last month was the world's hottest June since records have been kept, the European Union's climate monitoring service said, according to Agence France-Presse. "The month was the warmest June globally ... exceeding June 2019 -- the previous record -- by a substantial margin," the EU monitor said in a statement from its C3S climate unit.
Scientists have warned for months that 2023 could see record heat as human-caused climate change, driven largely by the burning of fossil fuels like coal, natural gas and oil, warmed the atmosphere. They also noted that La Nina, the natural cooling of the ocean that had acted as a counter to that warming, was giving way to El Nino, the reverse phenomenon marked by warming oceans. The North Atlantic has seen record warmth this year.
