June: The Hottest Month Worldwide

Although in Cuba thermometers did not remotely rise as in other latitudes of the planet, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed https://public.wmo.int/es that this was the hottest month since temperatures are recorded.

Running parallel with such high temperatures, there was also a record decrease in Antarctic sea ice, which reached the lowest level since satellite observations began, while sea surface temperatures also reached unprecedented figures.

This is stated in a report presented by the WMO - a specialized agency of the United Nations system - where it’s emphasized that https://news.un.org/es/story/2023/07/1522562, "June 2023 will enter history, marking 0.5 °C above the average for the period 1991-2020, and surpassing the previous record of June 2019”.

The European Union Copernicus Climate Change Service, in collaboration with WMO, highlights it in this way.

The WMO Director of Climate Services, Chris Hewitt, stated that "we are in uncharted territory and we can expect new records as El Niño develops further, and these impacts will extend until 2024. These are worrying news for the planet."

The exceptional heat suffered last month and which were also felt early this July began when the meteorological event known as El Niño began to develop.

And the other bad news is that, according to Professor Hewitt, such a phenomenon is expected to "feed even more heat both on land and oceans leading to more extreme temperatures and marine heat waves."

The month that just ended was drier than average for most of North America, where it led to large forest fires, which also took place in other latitudes.

It was still the driest June for Russia, the Horn of Africa, most of southern Africa, South America, and parts of Australia.

Paradoxically, it was wetter than average across most of southern Europe, western Iceland and northwestern Russia, with heavy rainfall causing flooding.

“No country is immune to the climate crisis. In Latin America and the Caribbean, the average temperature and sea level rise, increasing the risk of extreme weather events," the UN reported via Twitter.

Also on that social network, the United Nations warned that due to the climate crisis, heat waves are becoming more frequent, more intense, longer, and more deadly.

“Extreme heat is a humanitarian emergency. The fight against climate change is a humanitarian issue," the UN stresses.

Translated by Amilkal Labañino / CubaSí Translation Staff