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(CNS): It should come as no surprise to those who have been following trends over the past year that the global average temperature for May 2024 was the warmest on record for that month. From June 2023 to May 2024, each month exceeded the previous record as the world continues to warm. Last month, the global average surface temperature was 0.65°C above the 1991-2020 average, with the European Union Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) Confirmed.
“It is shocking, but not surprising, that we have had this phenomenon for 12 consecutive months,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the C3C, at a press conference to release the latest data. “While the streak of record-breaking months will eventually be interrupted, the overall characteristics of climate change remain and there is no sign that the trend will change.”
Buontempo said we are in unprecedented times. “This series of hottest months will be seen as a relatively cold period, but if we can stabilize the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere in the near future, we may be able to return to these ‘cold’ temperatures by the end of the century,” he warned.
In the Cayman Islands, official figures for May are not yet available, but residents have experienced a very hot and dry month, although the CI National Weather Service predicts increased rainfall and this week’s forecast calls for an increase in thunderstorms in the coming days. The Cayman Islands are not immune to the effects of global warming, and weather patterns here are becoming increasingly unpredictable, with longer, hotter and drier periods becoming more common.
Meanwhile, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres expressed concern about the failure of world leaders to act. “Over the past year, the climate has deteriorated further and further,” he said in a speech this week. “Our planet is trying to tell us something. But we don’t seem to be listening. We are breaking global temperature records and suffering huge losses. This is a climate crisis moment. Now is the time to mobilize, act and achieve.”
Data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service for May showed that the global average temperature was 1.52°C above the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900. The global average temperature for the past 12 months (June 2023 to May 2024) was the highest on record, 0.75°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.63°C above the pre-industrial average of 1850-1900.
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