Temperatures spike amid signs of record hottest year

Global temperatures had accelerated to record-setting levels by mid-June, an ominous sign in the climate crisis ahead of a gathering El Niño that could potentially propel 2023 to become the hottest year ever recorded.

- Oliver Milman

Preliminary global average temperatures taken up to 14 June were nearly 1C above levels previously recorded for the same month, going back to 1979. Climate scientists said it followed a pattern of strengthening global heating that could see this year named the hottest ever recorded, topping 2016.

The first half of June saw "remarkable global warmth", confirmed Copernicus, the European Union's Earth observation arm, which said that the first few days of the month even breached a 1.5C increase compared with pre-industrial times. This is probably the first time this has happened since industrialisation, the agency said.

The long-term warming conditions caused by the burning of fossil fuels will probably receive a further pulse of heat via El Niño, a naturally recurring phenomenon where sections of the Pacific Ocean heat up, typically causing temperatures to spike across the world.