NASA confirms July the hottest month since 1880 on record

NASA has officially confirmed that July of this year was the hottest month ever recorded since 1880. This scorching trend was felt globally as heatwaves and wildfires ravaged both the United States and Europe. Scientists from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York analyzed the data and found that July 2023 surpassed all other months in terms of temperature. In fact, it was 0.24 degrees Celsius hotter than any previous July in NASA’s records, and a staggering 1.18 degrees Celsius warmer than the average July between 1951 and 1980.

The primary contributor to this unprecedented warmth was the elevated sea surface temperatures. NASA’s analysis showed particularly high ocean temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific, pointing to the emergence of the El Niño phenomenon that began forming in May 2023.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson emphasized the significance of this data, stating that the realities of climate change are being directly felt by people worldwide. He highlighted the urgency of President Biden’s climate agenda in response to these alarming figures. The effects were felt across the globe, with South America, North Africa, North America, and the Antarctic Peninsula all experiencing temperatures around 4 degrees Celsius higher than the norm.

This intense heat exposed millions to heat warnings and led to hundreds of heat-related illnesses and deaths. The record-breaking July is consistent with the ongoing pattern of human-driven warming, primarily due to greenhouse gas emissions, which has become increasingly apparent over the last four decades. Notably, the five hottest Julys since 1880 have all occurred within the last five years.

Katherine Calvin, chief scientist and senior climate advisor at NASA Headquarters, highlighted the escalating impacts of climate change on both people and ecosystems. Gavin Schmidt, Director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, stressed that this July was not only the hottest July on record but also the warmest month ever recorded since 1880.