A storm rolls in at a beach in Chicago after a day of extreme heat in August 2024. (Tess Crowley/Chicago Tribune via AP)
The Conversation: Broken temperature records are alarming but it is not too late to limit global warming
As written in The Conversation by Alex Crawford, Dept. of Environment and Geography, Clayton H. Riddell Faculty of Environment, Earth, and Resources, University of Manitoba.
July 22, 2024 was the hottest day in recorded human history, with a global average temperature of 17.16 C.
This followed the hottest June ever recorded, which followed the hottest May ever recorded. This all follows 2023, which was the hottest year on record at 1.48 C warmer than the 1850-1900 average according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
As a climate scientist, I am morbidly riveted by these events, checking climate data hubs with the same fervour and frequency that my friends and family check the hockey and football scores. However, when talking to those friends and family about these climate records, I often find that three big questions often arise: what do these numbers mean, how warm will it get and what is the point of no return?
Research at the University of Manitoba is partially supported by funding from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund.