The world just experienced its hottest May since records began, making a record 12th month in a row of never-before-seen high temperatures.
According to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), temperatures for May 2024 worldwide came in at 1.52 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial average.
Record temperatures also meant that May was the 11th month in a row in which the world exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit). That figure is significant, as it is the “recommended” limit for warming this century as advised by the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change—though the 1.5 degrees limit stipulated in that agreement refers to a multi-year, not a multi-month, average.
“The climate continues to alarm us—the last 12 months have broken records like never before,” said C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess, who explained that the temperatures were caused primarily by greenhouse gas emissions, with “an added boost from the El Niño event in the tropical Pacific.”
The extreme temperatures caused a wide range of effects in different regions of the world. Heavy rains caused widespread flooding in central Europe, while the U.K. and Ireland saw wetter than average weather. Southwestern Asia saw extreme flooding, while unseasonal typhoons affected Japan, the Philippines and China. Meanwhile, Mexico and parts of the USA and Canada saw drier than average weather bringing droughts and wildfires.
“It is shocking but not surprising that we have reached this 12-month streak,” said C3S director Carlo Buontempo. “While this sequence of record-breaking months will eventually be interrupted, the overall signature of climate change remains and there is no sign in sight of a change in such a trend.”
C3S’s observations align with findings released yesterday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), which also warned that the world was approaching the limits set by the Paris Agreement. At Paris, the international community agreed to take action to limit temperature rise this century to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1850-1900 baseline. The WMO projects that temperatures for each year between 2024 and 2028 will be between 1.1 and 1.9 degrees Celsius (1.98 and 3.4 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the 1850-1900 baseline.
“Until we reach net-zero global emissions the climate will continue to warm, will continue to break records, and will continue to produce more ever more extreme weather events,” Burgess said. “If we choose to continue to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere then 2023-2024 will soon look like a cool year, in a similar way to how 2015-2016 now appears.”