In 2023, hundreds of millions of people across the planet experienced extreme heat, with each month from June to December setting a world record for that month. July was the warmest month ever recorded.

Overall, in 2023, Earth was about 1.4 degrees Celsius (or about 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the average at the end of the 19th century, when modern records began, says an analysis released Friday by NASA published.

Global temperatures last year were about 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.1 degrees Fahrenheit) above the average for NASA’s reference period (1951 to 1980), scientists at the Goddard Institute for Space Research (GISS) reported. New York.

“The global temperature report from NASA and NOAA confirms what billions of people around the world experienced last year: we are facing a climate crisissaid NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. “From extreme heat to forest fires and rising sea levels, we can see that our planet is changing. There is still work to be done, but President Joe Biden and communities across the United States are taking more steps than ever to reduce climate risks and help communities become more resilient, and NASA will continue to use our strategic position in space to provide critical climate data to collect. to the earth, which is understandable and accessible to all people.”

This record temperature coincides with a year of “extreme weather events across the planet” that have caused 25 catastrophes in the United States alone, causing damage worth more than $1 billion each.

In an interview with EFE, scientist and meteorologist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Marangelly Fuentes, said the temperature increase “didn’t shock the scientists.”

Regarding extreme weather events, Fuentes clarified that the concern in the coming years is not so much about the increase in the phenomena that may occur, but rather about “how destructive these natural disasters become.”

Extremely high temperatures

The “exceptional heat” affected much of the world, causing “scorching” waves in South America, Japan, Europe and the United States and in the southwestern United States.

Phoenix, Arizona, had 31 consecutive days of temperatures above 43.33 degrees Celsius.

World temperature records were set every month from June to December. July was the warmest month ever recorded.

In this sense, Fuentes added in the interview that as long as greenhouse gases continue to rise, so will the global temperature of the planet. That is why he showed “hope” in the agreement reached at the climate summit in Dubai last December.

COP28 agreed to begin a transition away from fossil fuels to limit temperature rise, but Fuentes pointed out that the consequences of this change will be visible “over a long period of years.”

Among other natural tragedies that occurred in 2023, NASA highlights the massive forest fires in Canada and Hawaii, and intense rainfall in Italy, Greece, the United States and Central Europe.

According to the publication, Tropical Cyclone Freddy also broke records to become the longest cyclone in history, devastating areas of Madagascar and Mozambique with deadly flooding and landslides.

“More and more rain showers and hurricanes are expected in areas that are not used to these conditions and therefore also in communities that are not prepared to cope with them,” Fuentes said, a fact he linked to devastating consequences in these areas.

Just today, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) also confirmed that 2023 has been the hottest year on record, also breaking 2016 and 2020 figures. (JO)