August 2023 has been dubbed by climate scientists as the world’s hottest August in recorded history.

A climate bulletin from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) claims it is also the second-hottest month on record, beaten only by the preceding month of July.

The bulletin adds that the period of June-July-August (JJA) has also been the hottest across the globe on record, with global temperatures climbing to 0.66 degrees above average.

Global average sea temperatures for August also broke records, with every single day hotter than the previous monthly record holder of March 2016.

Antarctic sea ice levels were at 12 percent below average, the largest known deficit since observations began in the late 1970s.

Current temperature averages have 2023 on track to become the second hottest year on record, only 0.01 degrees below 2016’s average, which was influenced by a warming El Niño event.

However, US scientists confirmed in June the forming of an El Niño event, which could fuel further unprecedented record-breaking weather in 2024.

Professor Petteri Taalas, the Secretary General for the World Meteorological Organisation, warns as much despite the record-breaking weather so far this year.

“It is worth noting that this is happening BEFORE we see the full warming impact of the El Niño event, which typically plays out in the second year after it develops,” Professor Petteri Taalas, the Secretary General of the World Meteorological Organisation said.

António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, said that while “climate breakdown has begun”, there is still hope to turn things around for the better, and that “leaders must turn up the heat now for climate solutions.”

“Surging temperatures demand a surge in action … we can still avoid the worst of climate chaos – and we don’t have a moment to lose.”

Photo: Toronto heatwave 2010 by Jim Crocker available HERE and used under a Creative Commons license. This image has not been modified.