Last month was officially the warmest April on record, with global temperatures 0.67°C above average – and scientists say climate change is to blame
- April 2024 was warmer than any month, according to data from 1940
- Temperatures rose due to record levels of greenhouse gases and El Niño
April was the warmest month on record in the world – and the eleventh consecutive record month in a row, new figures show.
According to Copernicus, the EU’s climate change agency, April 2024 was warmer than any month in April 1940.
Global air temperatures have been rising due to both record levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the weather phenomenon known as El Niño.
Global temperatures typically rise during an El Niño episode because warmer water spreads further and stays closer to the surface, releasing more heat into the atmosphere, creating wetter and warmer air.
Surface air temperatures this month were 15.03°C – 0.67°C above the 1991-2020 average for April, and 0.14°C above the previous high of April 2016.
April was the warmest month on record in the world – and the eleventh consecutive record month in a row, new figures show. Pictured: People hold umbrellas during a heat wave in Taiwan on April 29
Surface air temperatures this month were 15.03°C – 0.67°C above the 1991-2020 average for April, and 0.14°C above the previous high of April 2016
The global average temperature over the past 12 months, from May 2023 to April 2024, is the highest on record – at 1.61°C above the 1850-1900 period, which is used as a benchmark for pre-industrial levels, before significant impacts of human activity began to influence the global climate.
In Europe, the continent warming the fastest on Earth due to human-induced climate change, temperatures in April were 1.49°C above the 1990-2020 average, making it the second warmest month on record.
While the world’s warmest April record was broken, and in Europe, temperatures in Britain for April have been labeled ‘average’ by the Met Office at 8.3°C, just 0.4°C higher than the long-term average from 1991-2020 .
The global average temperature over the past 12 months, from May 2023 to April 2024, is the highest on record – at 1.61°C above the 1850-1900 period, which is used as a benchmark for pre-industrial levels, before significant impacts of human activity began to influence the global climate
The average global sea surface temperature outside the polar regions was 21.04°C, the highest in 1979 records for the month, and marginally below March’s record of 21.07°C
The average global sea surface temperature outside the polar regions was 21.04°C, the highest in 1979 records for the month, and marginally below March’s record of 21.07°C.
It is the 13th month in a row that the sea surface temperature has been the warmest on record for that month of the year.
The El Niño climate phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean, which is also pushing up global temperatures, continued to weaken, but sea air temperatures generally remained at generally high levels, scientists said.
Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), said: ‘El Nino peaked at the start of the year and sea surface temperatures in the eastern tropical Pacific are now returning to neutral conditions.
‘Although the temperature variations associated with natural cycles such as El Nino come and go, the extra energy trapped in the ocean and atmosphere from increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases will continue to push global temperatures to new records.’