- Record-breaking high temperatures ranged from the southwestern United States to the northwest, and then to Canada.
- Globally, June 2021 became the fourth hottest June in the same month of 2018.
- This is the second hottest June on record in Europe, and the summer temperatures in northern Siberia are also very high.
The European Union’s climate monitoring agency reported on Wednesday that last month was the hottest June on record in North America. A fatal heat wave occurred in parts of the region, which illustrates the impact of global warming.
Record-breaking high temperatures from the southwestern United States to the northwest, and then to Canada, British Columbia broke daily temperature records for three consecutive days.
According to data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), the region in June was 1.2°C (34.2 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 1991-2020 average.
“These heat waves do not occur in a vacuum. They occur in a global warming climate, which makes them more likely to occur,” said C3S climate scientist Julian Nicholas.
Globally, June 2021 became the fourth hottest June in the same month of 2018.
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This is the second hottest June on record in Europe, and the summer temperatures in northern Siberia are also very high.
Nicholas told Agence France-Presse that heat waves occur more frequently, more intensely, and last longer than in the past. This is already a well-known thing.
“The heat waves we saw in North America, western Russia, and northern Siberia last month are just the latest examples of this trend, which is expected to continue into the future and is related to our global warming,” he said.
Life threatening
According to a C3S report, the soil in the affected area is also unusually dry. The report stated that wildfires and high temperatures are “threatening to life”.
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In recent days, under deadly heat waves and dry conditions, dozens of fires have occurred in parts of Canada.
“Compared with previous records, what happened in Canada is a big leap,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of C3S.
“These popular records are a powerful reminder that climate change may have an impact on our lives,” he told AFP.
The 2015 Paris Agreement requires that global temperature rise be limited to “far below” 2 degrees Celsius and, if possible, 1.5 degrees Celsius.
So far, human activities have pushed up the global temperature by about 1.1°C, causing more and more severe storms, extreme heat waves, droughts and wildfires.
In May of this year, the World Meteorological Organization and the British Met Office stated that there is a 40% chance that the global average annual temperature will temporarily exceed the pre-industrial temperature by 1.5 degrees in the next five years.
The past six years, including 2020, are the hottest six years on record.
