Last month was one of the hottest July on record anywhere in the world, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), a specialized UN agency based in Geneva, said on Tuesday.
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“The world has just experienced one of the three hottest July on record. And obviously, as we all know, a very prolonged and very intense heatwave has hit parts of Europe,” WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis said at a news conference.
In a press release, WMO, citing data from the Copernicus climate change service, states that the past month will have been slightly colder than July 2019 but slightly warmer than July 2016.
“But the difference between those three months is really very small,” Ms Nullis said. “The variance is less than the margin of error.”
Overall, the temperature recorded last month exceeded the temperature recorded in July by 0.4°C over the reference period 1991-2020.
And this despite the presence of the natural phenomenon La Niña, which according to the WMO “should have a cooling effect”.
Last month, the WMO urged world leaders to “wake up” to heatwaves like the one Europe is currently experiencing, which are likely to become even more frequent at least for the next few years (2060) due to climate change.
According to the WMO, July 2022 did not make it all the way to the top of the podium as some regions of the world experienced below average temperatures along the western part of the Indian Ocean – from the Horn of Africa to southern India, much of Central Asia and most of Australia.
In addition to the heat wave, some regions of the world are suffering from severe drought. According to the WMO, July was drier than average in much of Europe, most of North America, much of South America, Central Asia and Australia.
In contrast, above-average weather conditions were recorded in eastern Russia, northern China and a broad strip stretching from eastern Africa through Asia to northwestern India.