August 2023 sets a record as the hottest month in history

August was the hottest month on record, on par with July 2023, according to the European Union Climate Service.

The record high is attributed to a combination of climate change and the increasing influence of El Niño, which has pushed more heat into the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean.

Temperatures during the month were 1.65°C higher than pre-industrial levels – exceeding the critical 1.5°C threshold agreed by countries to avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

Although exceeding this threshold within one month does not mean crossing it permanently, it reflects an increasing trend towards exceeding this limit.

The month also concluded with the hottest summer in Western Europe, as high temperatures pushed the season past the deadly heatwave the region experienced in 2003.

Dr Samantha Burgess, Copernicus' climate strategist, described August as "a landmark month in the global climate record", and that its impacts are "increasingly being felt by communities, economies and ecosystems around the world".

She said the combination of record air temperatures, record ocean temperatures, and Europe's exceptional summer showed how climate change is driving extreme events in both the atmosphere and oceans.

For his part, Simon Steele, head of the United Nations Climate Office, said that the record clearly demonstrated humanity's impact on the climate.

“The evidence is overwhelming: this is the growing cost of humanity’s addiction to fossil fuels, and the global climate crisis it is fueling,” he said.

The researchers added that the emergence of the strong El Niño phenomenon makes matters worse, in addition to the continuing impact of the use of fossil fuels.

El Niño is a natural weather pattern in which an area of ​​the eastern Pacific Ocean turns unusually warm, releasing massive amounts of stored ocean heat into the atmosphere and pushing global temperatures higher for about a year.

The storm we are currently experiencing is still gaining strength and may become one of the strongest storms on record, according to the Copernicus team.

The greatest impact of this natural phenomenon on global temperatures is expected during the next year, which means that the current series of records may continue for a longer period.

The possibility comes on the heels of a summer that pushed Western Europe to record its highest temperatures on record.

This was mirrored in the UK, which experienced its warmest summer since records began in 1884 – a high that the Met Office found was made about 130 times more likely due to human-induced climate change.

Dr Claire Barnes, an extreme weather researcher at Imperial College London, said these numbers carry a "very real human cost".

She said the heatwave sweeping the United Kingdom and Europe had disrupted schools, overwhelmed hospitals, damaged food production, fueled fires and drought, and claimed “tens of thousands of lives.”