An extraordinary run of record heat could usher in a long, hot summer — ‘and not in a good way’

Scientists
on
Tuesday
confirmed
that
last
month
was
the
hottest
March
on
record,
extending
an
extraordinary
run
of
global
heat
that
has
renewed
calls
for
an
urgent
reduction
in
planet-warming
greenhouse
gas
emissions.

The
European
Union’s
Copernicus
Climate
Change
Service
(C3S)

said
March
was
the
10th
month
in
a
row
when
temperatures
have
been
hotter
than
ever
for
the
respective
time
of
year.
The
record-breaking
run
stretches
back
to
June
last
year.

The
EU’s
climate
monitor
said
March
was
1.68
degrees
Celsius
(3.02
Fahrenheit)
hotter
than
an
average
March
between
the
pre-industrial
reference
period
of
1850
to
1900.
March
was
0.1
degrees
Celsius
warmer
than
the
previous
high
logged
in
March
2016.

“March
2024
continues
the
sequence
of
climate
records
toppling
for
both
air
temperature
and
ocean
surface
temperatures,
with
the
10th
consecutive
record-breaking
month,”
Samantha
Burgess,
deputy
director
of
C3S,
said
in
a
statement.

“The
global
average
temperature
is
the
highest
on
record,
with
the
past
12
months
being
1.58°C
above
pre-industrial
levels.
Stopping
further
warming
requires
rapid
reductions
in
greenhouse
gas
emissions,”
she
added.

Extreme
heat
is made
much
more
likely
by
the
climate
crisis,
the
chief
driver
of
which
is
the burning
of
fossil
fuels.

Chloe
Brimicombe,
a
climate
researcher
at
Austria’s
University
of
Graz,
told
CNBC
that
yet
another
month
of
record-breaking
global
heat
was
due
to
human-caused
climate
change.

“We’ve
seen
extreme
heatwaves
and
storms
and

flooding
in
the
Southern
Hemisphere
again
this
year.
Our

global
cocoa
prices
have
been
impacted.
We’ve
also
seen
below
average
snowfall
in
Central
Europe
[and]
we
are
on
track
for
over
half
of
our
alpine
glaciers
in
Europe
to
disappear
by
the
end
of
the
Century,”
Brimicombe
said
via
email.

“It
could
be
one
very
long
hot
summer
and
not
in
a
good
way.”

Jonathan
Bamber,
director
of
the
Bristol
Glaciology
Centre
at
the
U.K.’s
University
of
Bristol,
noted
that
the
temperature
records
broken
so
far
this
year
follow

the
hottest
year
on
record.

“One
year
could
possibly,
may
be
an
extreme
outlier
but
the
data
we
are
witnessing
already
in
2024
are
pretty
disturbing,”
Bamber
told
CNBC
via
email.

“They
hint
at
feedbacks
in
the
climate
system
that
are
stronger
than
the
models
predict
and
are
making
me
and
many
of
my
colleagues
increasingly
concerned
about
the
pace
and
rate
of
climate
breakdown.”

C3S’
latest
monthly
climate
bulletin
comes
shortly
after
the
United
Nation’s
weather
agency

sounded
a “red
alert”
to
the
world
after
it
said
a
series
of
climate
records
last
year
gave
new
meaning
to
the
phrase “off
the
charts.”

In
its
annual “State
of
the
Global
Climate”
report,
researchers
at
the
World
Meteorological
Organization
confirmed
2023
as
the
hottest
year
on
record
and
said
the
period
between
2014
and
2023
also
reflected
the
hottest
10-year
period
on
record.

The
global
average
temperature
in
2023
stood
at
1.45
degrees
Celsius
above
pre-industrial
levels,
WMO
researchers
said,
marginally
below
the
key
warming
threshold
of
1.5
degrees
Celsius.

The
1.5
degrees
Celsius
level
is
widely
recognized
as
an
indicator
of
when
climate
impacts
become
increasingly
harmful
to
people
and
the
planet,
as
outlined
in
the landmark
Paris
Agreement.