The world has experienced the hottest March on record, marking a streak of 10 consecutive months during which each month has set a new temperature record – the European Union’s climate change monitoring service (C3S) has officially announced, as reported by Reuters.
Specifically, excluding this April, every month over the past 10 months has been the hottest in the history of the world (compared to the corresponding months of previous years).
Temperatures across most European countries at the end of March were above the annual average, with many countries recording record-high temperatures. (Photo: Weatherbell).
Moreover, the 12-month period from April 2023 to March 2024 is also the hottest 12 months in the history of the planet. During this time, the global average temperature was 1.58oC higher than pre-industrial levels.
“The ongoing trend of these records is very concerning to us,” said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of C3S – “These records, month after month, really show us that the climate is changing, and it is changing very rapidly.”
C3S attributes the primary cause of these unusual heat waves to human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, another contributing factor is the El Nino phenomenon. However, even though El Nino weakened in March, global sea surface temperatures reached record highs compared to any time in history.
According to C3S, if humans do not reduce emissions, the Earth will continue to warm rapidly, resulting in more severe droughts, wildfires, heatwaves, and storms.
