The world was sweltering as April broke global heat records

April marked another “remarkable” month with record-breaking global air and sea surface temperature averages, according to a new report from the EU Climate Monitor published on Wednesday.

The abnormally warm conditions came despite the continued weakening of the El Nino weather phenomenon, which is contributing to the increased heat, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said, pointing out that human-induced climate change is worsening the extremes.

– Record heat –

According to Copernicus, every month since June last year has been the warmest period on record.

April 2024 was no exception, with a temperature 1.58 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900.

“Although unusual, a similar set of monthly global temperature records occurred earlier in 2015/2016,” Copernicus said.

The average temperature over the past 12 months was also 1.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, exceeding the 1.5 degrees Celsius target set in the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming.

This anomaly does not mean that the Paris target, which is calculated over a period of decades, has not been achieved.

But it does indicate “how remarkable the global temperature conditions we are currently experiencing are,” Copernicus climatologist Julien Nicolas told AFP.

Last month was the second warmest April ever recorded in Europe, just like March and the entire winter period.

– Divergent extremes –

Parts of Asia from India to Vietnam have been hit by scorching heatwaves in recent weeks, while southern Brazil has suffered deadly flooding.

“Every additional degree of global warming is associated with extreme weather events, which are both more intense and more likely,” Nicolas said.

Various extremes in the form of floods and droughts ravaged the planet in April.

April was wetter than normal across much of Europe, although southern Spain, Italy and the western Balkans were drier than average, Copernicus reported.

Heavy rainfall resulted in flooding in parts of North America, Central Asia and the Persian Gulf.

While eastern Australia was hit by heavy rain, most of the country experienced drier than normal conditions, as did northern Mexico and around the Caspian Sea.

– Warmer oceans –

The natural El Nino pattern, which warms the Pacific Ocean and leads to a rise in global temperatures, peaked earlier this year and was on its way to a “neutral state” by April, Copernicus said.

Still, average sea surface temperatures in April broke records for the thirteenth month in a row.

Warming oceans threaten marine life, contribute to higher atmospheric humidity and jeopardize its crucial role in absorbing greenhouse gas emissions that warm the planet.

Climate forecasts suggest there could even be a transition to La Nina in the second half of the year, which would lower global temperatures, Nicolas said, “but conditions are still quite uncertain.”

The end of El Nino does not mean the end of high temperatures.

– More records –

“The additional energy trapped in the ocean and atmosphere by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will continue to push global temperatures to new records,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement.

The UN warned in March that there was a “high probability” that 2024 would see record temperatures, while 2023 would cap a decade of record heat, pushing the planet “to the brink”.

It was “still a bit early” to predict whether new records would be broken, Nicolas said, as 2023 was exceptional.