Earth just had its hottest summer in recorded history, data released Wednesday (Sept. 6) by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reveals.
It was the hottest August on record – by a large margin – and the second hottest ever month after July 2023, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service ERA 5 dataset. August as a whole is estimated to have been around 1.5°C warmer than the preindustrial average for 1850-1900, according to the C3S monthly climate bulletin.
Global sea-surface temperatures have been especially high over the past five months and remained at record-high levels throughout April, May, June and July 2023. In August 2023, the sea-surface temperature was 69.76 degrees Fahrenheit (20.98 degrees Celsius), surpassing the previous March 2016 heat record every single day that month.
