Never this hot in April for at least 30 years.The values ​​have been records for 11 months:what's happening

Since recording for Copernicus began in 1991, April has never been this warm.And it is the eleventh month in which this record has been set

ROME – The string of record months for hottest temperatures recorded continues:April 2024 was in fact warmer globally than any previous April in the recorded data.AND it is the eleventh warmest month in a row registered.Sea surface temperatures also continue to set records for higher than average temperatures:the month of April is the thirteenth in which the sea temperature is 'record' for warm values.In short, the impact of climate change is becoming increasingly evident.And the long 'trails' of consecutive months give the idea of ​​an ongoing change.Copernicus, which with its Climate Change Service always detects all values ​​and analyzes them, recalls that a previous 'trail' of consecutive months was recorded in 2015 and 2016.As regards for example April, in fact, before this April 2024 (where the average temperature was 15.03 degrees), the previous warmest April ever recorded was 2016, with an average temperature of 14.89 .

THE VALUES OF APRIL 2024

with an Era5 average surface air temperature of 15.03°C, 0.67°C above the 1991 to 2020 average for April and 0.14°C above the previous high set in April 2016.The data was released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which regularly publishes monthly climate bulletins reporting changes recorded globally in surface air and sea temperatures, sea ice cover and hydrological variables.All reported results are based on computer-generated analyzes and according to the Era5 reanalysis dataset, which uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.

THE 'STRAIN' OF WARM MONTHS

This is it the eleventh warmest month in a row in recording Era5 data for the respective month of the year.While unusual, a similar streak of monthly global temperature records occurred previously in 2015/2016.The month was 1.58°C warmer than the estimated average April for 1850 to 1900, the pre-industrial baseline.

The global average temperature of the last 12 months (May 2023-April 2024) is the highest ever recorded, with 0.73°C above the average for the reference period between 1991 and 2020 and 1.61°C above the pre-industrial average (1850-1900).The European average temperature for April 2024 was 1.49°C higher than the average for the period between 1991 and 2020, making the month the second warmest April on the continent. Temperatures were higher than average in regions of Eastern Europe.Fennoscandia and Iceland recorded below-average temperatures.The average temperature, however, masks the contrast between the warmest and coldest temperatures recorded in early and late April in Western Europe.

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN THE WORLD

Outside of Europe, temperatures were mostly above average in North and northeast America, Greenland, eastern Asia, the northwestern Middle East, parts of South America, and most of Africa.The El Niño in the eastern equatorial Pacific continued to weaken toward neutral conditions, but overall sea air temperatures remained at an unusually high level.

THE SEA ALSO CONTINUES TO WARM

The global sea surface temperature (Sst) averaged for April 2024 over 60°S-60°N was 21.04°C, the highest recorded value for the month, marginally lower than the 21.07°C recorded for March 2024.This is the thirteenth consecutive month in which the Sst was the warmest in the Era5 data record for the respective month of the year.