August 2020 was also much warmer than average
Environment — di Valentina Neri
At a global level, August 2020 ranks fourth among the hottest months ever recorded. This is what data from the European Copernicus programme show.
August 2020 was also much warmer than average
At a global level, August 2020 ranks fourth among the hottest months ever recorded. This is what data from the European Copernicus programme show.
The month of August 2020 is the fourth hottest ever recorded, sitting just 0.13 degrees below that of 2016, which tops the rankings. Temperatures recorded at a global level exceeded the average of the last four decades by 0.44 degrees Celsius. And they are nothing more than confirmation of a far broader trend: the last six Augusts have all been warmer than those preceding 2015. This is attested by the monthly bulletin issued by the European Copernicus programme, whose analyses are derived from billions of measurements gathered from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations scattered around the world.
🔴🌡️August 2020 was the fourth warmest on record, 0.44°C warmer than the 1981-2020 average.
August in each of the years from 2015 to 2020 was warmer globally than any August prior to 2015.
Read more in @CopernicusECMWF's temperature highlights: bit.ly/3jUhT0I
August in each of the years from 2015 to 2020 was warmer globally than any August prior to 2015.
Read more in @CopernicusECMWF's temperature highlights: bit.ly/3jUhT0I
Frequent heatwaves across western and central Europe
Across western and central Europe, the entire summer was marked by a series of intense heatwaves, which resulted in several days of thermal stress classified as "very strong". Temperatures recorded across the Old Continent between June and August are 0.9 degrees Celsius above the 1981–2010 standard, but do not come close to those of the scorching summers of 2003, 2010, 2018 and 2019.
In August specifically, temperatures remained well above the norm across a stretch of territory running from France through Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg and into Germany. A clear example is the municipality of Uccle, in the Brussels region, where averages held steadily above 30 degrees Celsius for eight consecutive days, reaching an all-time record of 35.9 degrees. Conversely, August was slightly cooler than usual in Portugal and parts of Spain.
Exceptional temperatures across the US and Mexico in July and August
It was Sunday 16 August when, at Furnace Creek in California's Death Valley, the mercury hit 54.4 degrees Celsius. If validated by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), it will be the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth. This peak was reached at the culmination of two particularly scorching months across the entire south-west of the United States and northern Mexico. It was also a far warmer than usual August in north-west Siberia and across much of the Arctic Ocean.