This past month has been the world’s third-hottest July recorded ever, according to Copernicus, EU’s climate change service.
Only in 2016 and 2019 was July hotter worldwide, reports NU. The database that Copernicus has on temperature measurements extends to the middle of the 19th Century. According to Freja Vamborg from Copernicus, “It has become warmer worldwide and in all months.”
As the Netherlands braces itself for up to eight days of extreme heat, areas across the globe have broken heat records. Bahrain also recorded its hottest July ever since 1992. Up north in the Arctic, the smallest amount of sea ice for July was recorded since 1979.
Even in een kort weerbericht nog even de kansen op warmte de komende dagen. #hitte #hittegolf pic.twitter.com/9jGe2M1mrY
— Weerplaza.nl (@Weerplaza) August 6, 2020
The Netherlands is not the only country that is bracing itself for a heatwave. France and Belgium will also experience one. In the Italian Alps, some roads will be closed as glacial ice may melt from the intense heat.
Part of the reason for the global heat this year can be attributed to the wildfires in Siberia from June of this year, as permafrost had thawed, releasing trapped carbon into the atmosphere.
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Feature Image: MaudCorrea/Pixabay