CNN
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Scientists have confirmed that summer has broken global heat records for the second year in a row, making 2024 the hottest year on record.

The period between June and August – summer in the Northern Hemisphere – was the warmest on Earth since records began in 1940, according to data published Friday by Copernicus, the European climate change service.

Copernicus found that temperatures this summer were 0.69 degrees Celsius warmer than the average for the period 1991 to 2020, surpassing the previous record set last summer by 0.03 degrees.

It’s the latest in a series of global heat records being broken, but it won’t be the last, scientists warn. Humans continue to produce fossil fuels that heat the Earth, driving up global temperatures.

The consequences and impact on human health and lives are clearly visible. Countries around the world have experienced extreme summer temperatures, resulting in deadly heat waves, record-breaking wildfires and devastating storms.

Even in winter in the Southern Hemisphere, the heat is extreme.

Last month, Australia broke the national record for the hottest day in August, with a temperature of 41.6 degrees Celsius (106.9 Fahrenheit). Meanwhile, temperatures in parts of Antarctica rose 50 degrees Fahrenheit above normal in July.

The Copernicus data confirm what was likely after the planet experienced its warmest June on record, followed by its warmest July days on record.

The summer ended with the warmest August ever recorded, Copernicus confirmed on Friday.

With an average temperature of 16.82 degrees Celsius (62.28 Fahrenheit), it was 1.51 degrees Celsius warmer than an average August in the pre-industrial era, the time before humans began burning large amounts of fossil fuels.

Copernicus found that the 12 months from September 2023 to August 2024 were the warmest ever recorded, 1.64 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels.

“This series of record temperatures increases the likelihood that 2024 will be the warmest (calendar) year on record,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, in a statement.

There are a number of factors that cause global temperatures to fluctuate, including natural climate patterns such as El Niño, which originates in the tropical Pacific Ocean and has a warming effect on the planet, as well as human-induced factors such as the burning of fossil fuels – the main driver of the climate crisis.

El Niño, which brought record temperatures, ended in June, but scientists say the effects won’t stop anytime soon.

“This summer’s record warmth is expected given the continued heat from the waning El Niño event that has contributed to continued warming due to greenhouse gas emissions from human activities,” said Richard Allan, professor of climate science at the University of Reading in the UK.

It is “extremely alarming” that the past 12 months have exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, Allan told CNN, but he said it was “inevitable given the slow pace of action by governments” to cut pollution that is warming the planet.

Scientists have long warned that the world must limit global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels to avert the most catastrophic effects of climate change.

While they are more concerned about long-term breaches (over decades rather than a few years), the continued number of temporary breaches is an alarming indication of the direction the world is moving and what that means for people’s lives.

Burgess of Copernicus warned of even worse events to come.

“The extreme temperatures we have seen this summer will only become more severe and have even more devastating consequences for people and the planet unless we take urgent action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions,” she said.