US agency: Warmest July on record

Confirmation of the weather records set this hot summer is coming from several directions. Last month was the hottest July on record and marked the 14th consecutive monthly temperature record, according to a US agency. 2024 currently has a 77% chance of being the warmest on record, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced in its monthly newsletter. Last week, the European agency Copernicus, which uses a different set of data, estimated that July 2024 was only slightly cooler compared to July 2023. But both agencies agree that the situation is alarming, with each month recording approximately a year, exceptional monthly temperatures. The year 2024 is sure to be one of the five hottest years on record, according to NOAA, which is based on 175 years of data. In July, the global temperature was 1.21 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average (15.8 degrees Celsius), according to the American agency. The period was especially marked by a series of heat waves in the Mediterranean and Gulf countries, she emphasized. Africa, Europe and Asia recorded the warmest July, while North America had the second warmest July. As for the oceans, they recorded the second-warmest July, according to NOAA - the same result as Copernicus -, ending a 15-month streak of consecutive monthly sea water temperature records. However, this slight improvement could have been more significant, given the end of the El Nino climate phenomenon. The year 2023 was already the hottest year on record. "The devastating effects of climate change began long before 2023 and will continue until global greenhouse gas emissions reach carbon neutrality," Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Climate Change Department (C3S) of the United Nations, commented last week. Copernicus.

The Earth was hit by an intense geomagnetic storm on Monday, with the possibility of aurora borealis, NOAA announced. Conditions corresponding to a level 4 geomagnetic storm on a scale of 5 were observed as of 15:00 GMT on Monday, according to a specialized center attached to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States. These conditions "may persist," but are not expected to increase in intensity, NOAA added. Such an event "could cause light auroras as far south as Alabama and northern California," the US agency said. This new solar storm was caused by coronal mass ejections (CMEs), explosions of particles leaving the Sun. When these particles reach the Earth, they disrupt its magnetic field. On Sunday, NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick posted on the X network a photo of an aurora borealis taken from the International Space Station (ISS). However, geomagnetic storms can also have unwanted effects. For example, they can affect high-frequency communications, disrupt satellites and cause overloads in power grids. Operators of sensitive infrastructure have been notified to implement measures to limit these effects, NOAA said. In May, the planet faced the strongest geomagnetic storms recorded in the last 20 years. These led to the appearance of aurora borealis in the night sky, especially in the United States, Europe and Australia, at much lower latitudes than usual. This type of event has become more frequent recently, with the Sun currently near the peak of its activity in a cycle that repeats once every 11 years.