World’s hottest day recorded on Sunday as heatwaves scorch planet

A firefighter runs while battling the Thompson Fire burning in Oroville, California

Sunday was the hottest day ever recorded globally, according to preliminary data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.

The global average surface air temperature on Sunday reached 17.09 degrees Celsius (62.76 degrees Fahrenheit), this is slightly higher than the previous record set last July of 17.08 C (62.74 F).

Heatwaves have scorched large swathes of the United States, Europe and Russia over the past week.

Copernicus confirmed that the record daily temperature average set last year appeared to have been broken on Sunday.

Last year saw four days in a row break the record, from July 3 through July 6, as climate change, driven by the burning of fossil fuels, drove extreme heat across the Northern Hemisphere.

Every month since June 2023 - 13 months in a row - has now ranked as the planet’s hottest since records began, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, Copernicus said.

Some scientists have suggested 2024 could outrank 2023 as the hottest year since records began, as climate change and the El Nino natural weather phenomenon, which ended in April, have pushed temperatures ever higher this year.

Tourists protect themselves from the sun using an umbrella during a heatwave in Cordoba in Cordoba, southern Spain (AFP via Getty Images)

Spain sweated under its first official heatwave of the year last week, with temperatures reaching 40C in a large swathe of the country, while Italy, Greece and other areas of southern Europe also struggled to stay cool.

After a relatively bearable spring compared with record heat in 2023 and 2022, millions of Spaniards were left sweltering.

The country’s weather authority said the only areas to be spared will be the northwest and northern Atlantic coasts.

Weather forecasters said a mass of hot air travelling across the Mediterranean from northern Africa will settle over central and southern Spain.

A woman poses for a photo with smoke from a fire at the background, during a hot, windy day at Acropolis hill, in Athens (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

That, combined with the typical harsh summer sun, will make cities like the medieval cites of Seville, Toledo and Granada bake.

The hottest year for Spain since it started keeping records in 1961 was 2022; 2023 came in as the second hottest year. The first heatwave for last year arrived in June.

Authorities and experts agree that climate change is behind the rise in temperatures that is also feeding prolonged droughts and wildfires in the Mediterranean and other parts of the world.

Hot, dry winds scorched Greece, where a prolonged heatwave was at its peak on Wednesday and Thursday.

Temperatures touched 43C in several parts of the country, while night-time temperatures in parts of Athens remained above 30C for the past 10 days.

Firefighters were fighting two large blazes on Thursday, one near a village on the outskirts of the northern city of Thessaloniki, and a brush fire on the island of Kea, near Athens.

Emergency services ordered the evacuation of two areas on Kea, while local media said the fire near Thessaloniki had damaged several homes.

“We appeal to the public to be particularly careful as over the next few days there is a very high risk of the outbreak of serious wildfires,” government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis said.

“Even one spark can cause a major catastrophe.”

On Tuesday, Serbia’s state power company reported record consumption due to the use of air conditioning.