EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service

Rising temperatures should trigger a global "red alert," the United Nations' weather and climate agency chief said on Wednesday, after global heat indices again smashed records in August.

The world saw record average temperatures in August for the second year running, preliminary data from the EU's climate monitor seen by AFP showed.

Europe endured a record number of "extreme heat stress" days in 2023, two leading climate monitors said Monday, underscoring the threat of increasingly deadly summers across the continent.

In a year of contrasting extremes, Europe witnessed scorching heatwaves but also catastrophic flooding, withering droughts, violent storms and its largest wildfire.

Europe's climate monitor said on April 9 that March was the hottest on record and the tenth straight month of historic heat, with sea surface temperatures also hitting a "shocking" new high.

It is the latest red flag in a year already marked by climate extremes and rising greenhouse gas emissions, spurring fresh calls for more rapid action to limit global warming.

This winter was the hottest on record for Greece, according to data analysed by Greek scientists, threatening the viability of crops and raising fears of another summer of devastating wildfires.

Environment, Urbanization and Climate Change Minister Mehmet Özhaseki has announced that the hottest November of the last five decades was experienced in 2023, while the average temperature in November was 3.2 degrees above the normal temperature averages.

This year will be the hottest in recorded history after an "extraordinary" November became the sixth record-breaking month in a row, Europe's climate monitor said yesterday, piling pressure on the COP28 talks to act on climate change.

Europe experienced its second-warmest year on record in 2022, European Union scientists said on Tuesday, as climate change unleashed record-breaking weather extremes that slashed crop yields, dried up rivers and led to thousands of deaths.

This year's July, marked by extreme heat in Europe, replaced July 2016 and is officially the hottest ever recorded month in the world. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Programme, which analyzes temperature data from around the planet, said that July was around 0.56 °C warmer than the global average temperature between 1981-2010, CNN reported.