Melting away

As the world continues to show the signs of climate change, the planet just keeps getting hotter. According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which analyzes and reports on the climate in Europe and the rest of the world, the global average temperature for July 2019 made the hottest month on record. July is typically the hottest month of the year, and 2019’s average was .072 degrees Fahrenheit (or .04 degrees Celsius) hotter than in 2016, the previous record-holder, and more than 1 full degree hotter than the July average (between 1981-2010). Many Alaskan cities recorded their highest daily numbers ever, with early July temperatures 20 to 30 degrees above normal in some areas; wildfires burned across Greenland, Alaska and Siberia; and many European cities had record temperatures during the July heatwave.

Sources: Copernicus Climate Change Service, World Meteorological Organization and climate.gov