The global temperature increase continues with a record warm month of April

Issued on: 08/05/2024 – 11:35

1 minute

The surface air temperature averaged 15.03 degrees Celsius, exceeding the April average calculated between 1991 and 2020 by 0.67 degrees.

April’s milestone is part of a worrying trend that has made the last 12 months the warmest on record.

The monthly temperature record has now been broken for eleven months in a row.

Last year’s average temperature was 1.6 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, which exceeds the 1.5 degrees Celsius limit set in the 2015 Paris Agreement.

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

‘Remarkable’

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.

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

The warm conditions came despite the continued weakening of the El Nino weather pattern contributing to the increased heat, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said.

It points out that human-induced climate change is exacerbating the extremes.