August was the hottest month on record worldwide, with global temperatures reaching 1.65 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, scientists said on Thursday, amid warnings of further warming on the way. August 2026 was tied with July 2023 for the hottest month on record, according to the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service. Sea surface temperatures also rose to their highest levels ever recorded for August, writes The Guardian. These temperatures were recorded even before the incoming El Niño weather system had a major impact. El Niño is a recurring natural phenomenon where wind changes over the Pacific lead to increased ocean temperatures and the transfer of large amounts of heat into the atmosphere, with the effects being felt around the world in floods, droughts and heat waves. ever, as it is now overwhelmed by the climate crisis. Friederike Otto, a professor of climate science at Imperial College London, said: “While El Niño is starting to turn up the heat, the underlying factor [behind this year's high temperatures] remains our continued burning of fossil fuels. Climate change makes every El Niño even hotter, and until we stop burning coal, oil and gas, these record-breaking months will just keep coming.” The effects of August's extreme heat are still being felt around the world, with devastating fires, crop damage, excess deaths from heat waves and disruptions to transport, business and public services in many countries. Food price inflation is likely to rise further as the effects of smaller harvests are felt on domestic markets and imports. Simon Stiell, the UN's climate chief, said the summer's economic and social toll was still being tallied. "Extreme heat has killed millions and cost trillions, hitting transport and health systems, and driving up prices of household basics like food," he said. "The evidence is incontrovertible: this is the price of humanity's growing dependence on fossil fuels and the global climate crisis it is fueling." He called on governments to respond with "a faster transition to clean energy, which is now cheaper than fossil fuels, protecting our forests and oceans, and building climate resilience." Even as temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above levels pre-industrial levels, set in the 2015 Paris climate agreement as the lower of two limits that governments will try to maintain, such high levels would have to continue for several years before the agreement would be judged to have been violated. However, the UN acknowledged the "overshoot" this month and said large-scale removal of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere will be needed to correct it. Data from the Copernicus Earth observation satellite service also confirmed that western and central Europe, as well as areas of Scandinavia and southeastern Europe, experienced much drier than usual summer conditions, while worldwide most much of the southern US, northern Mexico, parts of Canada, the Maghreb, part of the Horn of Africa, Siberia, large parts of central Asia, China, South America, South Africa and northern Australia were all drier than average as well. The more temperatures rise above the 1.5°C threshold, the greater the chances of reaching planetary "tipping points" that could push temperatures much higher and break in irreversibly key stabilizers of the climate system, such as the Arctic ice cap and the Amazon rainforest. Ruth Fuller, chief climate adviser at environmental charity WWF UK, said: "This year has seen records broken left, right and centre, increasing the risk that natural systems will change irreversibly once tipping points are passed." Samantha Burgess, strategy lead for climate at the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which operates the Copernicus service, said: "August 2026 was an exceptional month in the global climate record. It was the warmest August and the warmest month on record, with global temperatures reaching 1.65C above pre-industrial levels, marking a return of global temperatures above 1.5C. "Combined with record global sea surface temperatures and the warmest summer ever recorded for Western Europe, these observations show how climate change is driving extremes in the atmosphere and oceans. The impacts of these conditions are increasingly being felt by communities, economies and ecosystems around the world.”

Source: prizrenpost