Планета нагрівається: травень став дванадцятим поспіль найгарячішим місяцем в історії

The Copernicus Climate Change Service, funded by the European Commission, reported that May 2024 was the warmest May on record worldwide. The average air temperature was 0.65°C above the 1991-2020 average.

This is the 12th consecutive month that the global average temperature has reached a record high for the month.

This 12-month series is confirmed by the publication of the World Meteorological Organization’s Annual and Decadal Climate Outlook Update by the UK Met Office. The document summarizes the annual and ten-year forecasts made by these institutions for the period of 2024-2028. Among many other findings, it shows that at least one of the next five years is likely to be the warmest on record, surpassing even 2023.

“It is shocking but not surprising that we have reached this 12-month streak. While this sequence of record-breaking months will eventually be interrupted, the overall signature of climate change remains and there is no sign in sight of a change in such a trend”, Carlo Buontempo, Copernicus Director said. “We are living in unprecedented times, but we also have unprecedented skill in monitoring the climate and this can help inform our actions. This string of hottest months will be remembered as comparatively cold but if we manage to stabilise the concentrations of GHGs in the atmosphere in the very near future we might be able to return to these “cold” temperatures by the end of the century.”

Copernicus data for May also shows that:

• the global average temperature in May 2024 was 1.52°C higher than the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900. This was the 11th consecutive month (since July 2023) that the temperature was at or above 1.5°C;
• the average global temperature over the past 12 months (June 2023 – May 2024) is the highest on record: 0.75°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.63°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.