Last month was the hottest June on record going back 174 years, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. It’s the latest temperature record to fall this summer, as the El Niño climate pattern exacerbates the effects of human-caused climate change.
The average global temperature in June 2023 was slightly hotter than the previous record June, which occurred in 2020.
Millions of people around the world suffered as a result, as heat waves hit every continent. In the U.S., record-breaking heat gripped much of the country including the Northeast, Texas, the Plains and Puerto Rico in June, and another round of deadly heat is affecting people across the southern half of the country this week.
Every June for the last 47 years has been hotter than the twentieth century average for the month, a stark reminder that greenhouse gas emissions, largely from burning fossil fuels, are causing steady and devastating warming worldwide.
The El Niño climate pattern, which officially began last month, is one reason temperatures are so hot right now. The cyclic pattern causes hotter than normal water in the Pacific Ocean, and the extra heat alters weather around the world and raises global temperatures. Usually, the hottest years on record occur when El Niño is active.