If you felt the rising temperature last month, that was because it was the hottest month. NASA released its temperature anomaly map confirming that July 2023 was the hottest and revealing the most affected areas.
NASA Map Reveals Hottest Areas
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) compares the planet's temperature to the global average for July. Worldwide, July 2023 was 0.43 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than all other Julys known since 1880 and 2.1 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the average of all Julys between 1951 and 1980.
The top five hottest Julys since 1880 have all occurred in the last five years, reportedly due to greenhouse gas emissions. The graphic also shows where the heat was most intense, with darker red spots being 7 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than the monthly average.
South America, North Africa, and the Antarctic Peninsula are among the worst-affected regions. The sea ice in Antarctica also suffered, with measurements showing it to be 15% below the average for this time of year and by far the lowest level in July since records have been kept since 1979.
Increased heat can cause drought conditions to become more severe, fueling wildfires like those in Hawaii and Canada this month.
According to a statement released by NASA, this July wasn't simply warmer than any other July; it was also the warmest month on record, dating back to 1880.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), run by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, revealed that the average sea surface temperature worldwide was 0.92 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1991-2020 average.
El Niño, the warm phase of a climate pattern in the tropical Pacific, has the potential to affect ocean temperatures in that region. However, its impacts have not yet been felt, but it is believed that the oceans will get even hotter when they do.
The effects of El Niño on global temperatures typically have a several-month lag and are felt in the winter and spring, Schmidt said in a GISS release, which is one of the reasons this record is alarming. Even though El Niño is now emerging, it is not yet clearly connected to the record warmth we are currently experiencing. The months of February, March, and April 2024 are when they anticipate the developing El Niño to have the most effects.
Science has established that this is abnormal. The main cause of the world's alarming warming is human-caused greenhouse gas emissions. The rise in average temperatures is fueling the deadly severe heat that people are experiencing locally and globally, Schmidt continued.
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— Chandragupt Institute of Management Patna (CIMP) (@CimpMedia) August 16, 2023
Not only was July 2023 warmer than previous Julys but it was the warmest month in NASA's record which goes back to 1880. It was hotter any other month in the global temperature record, according to scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies pic.twitter.com/uzcRPwZZAv
Hawaii Disaster: Maui Wildfire
The ongoing blaze in Hawaii - the Mauwi wildfire - is considered the most fatal since 1918. It surpassed the 2018 Camp Fire in Northern California with 85 casualties after claiming 93 lives.
Josh Green, the governor of Hawaii, has warned that the dead toll might increase significantly as long as the hunt for the missing is ongoing. According to Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen Jr, cadaver-sniffing dogs were sent in to aid in the search for the deceased on Friday.
Aside from the reported casualties, the wildfire burned and damaged 2,200 buildings. Green said it was the worst natural disaster since Hawaii became a state. The estimated damages were reportedly nearly $6 billion.
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