The world lived (and) him April “excellent” temperatures, as they were recorded monthly heat record both on land and on the surface of the oceans, according to the latest data from the European Copernicus Observatory, released today.

The natural climate phenomenon El Niño “keep weakens”leaving open the possibility of a decrease in temperatures later this year, but no change was observed in the basic trend, that of overheating, fueled by the massive burning of fossil fuels (gasoline, oil, gas, coal).

Again above 1.5° Celsius

Since June 2023, the heat record has been broken continuously every month.

April 2024 was no exception to what tends to be the norm, with an average temperature of 15.03°C, in other words 1.58 degrees above any normal April in the pre-industrial era (1850-1900).

“Although unusual, such a series of monthly records was already observed in 2015-2016”, when it lasted 15 months, the Copernicus service emphasizes.

Over the past 12 months, the planet’s temperature has been average 1.61°C higher than in the pre-industrial era, i.e. above the goal of the Paris Agreement (2015) that the increase in temperature should not exceed 1.5° Celsius. However, this anomaly must be recorded for decades to be considered that the climate exceeded this absolutely critical threshold.

In any case, however, it is established “how remarkable the conditions of the global temperature are”, underlined Julien Nicolas, a climatologist of the European climate change service Copernicus (C3S), to the AFP.

Last month was the second warmest ever recorded in Europe, along with March and the winter season as a whole.

Contrasts

Every additional degree of increase in global temperature is accompanied by “extreme climate events, which are becoming more severe and more likely”, reminds Julien Nicolas, as the last few weeks have been marked by extreme heat waves in Asia, India and Vietnam, while the south Brazil and other regions were hit by extremely deadly floods.

As far as they are concerned rainfall, climate change agency Copernicus drew no clear conclusions about trends in April. The month was wetter than normal across much of Europe, but drier than normal in the southern part of the continent.

The same contrast is observed outside Europe: in much of North America, central and eastern Asia, the Gulf, southern Brazil, extreme rainfall caused widespread flooding. On the contrary, in northern Mexico, around the Caspian Sea, as well as in a large part of Australia, drought prevailed.

Oceans: Small bend

The ocean surface temperature also recorded record in April compared to any previous one, excluding poles. This is the thirteenth consecutive month that a record has been set.

This warming threatens marine life, increases humidity in the atmosphere and threatens the ability of the oceans – which have a critical role – to absorb man-made greenhouse gas emissions.

However, the sea surface temperature registered a marginal decrease compared to March and its absolute record (21.04° Celsius, from 21.07° Celsius).

El Niño is weakening

The natural climate phenomenon El Niño “continued to weaken” in April and the situation moved towards “neutral conditions”, notes the Copernicus observatory.

The phenomenon occurs in the equatorial zone of the Pacific Ocean and contributes to global warming.

El Niño “reached its peak at the beginning of the year,” explained Julien Nicolas, which likely explains the slight dip in average temperatures in April compared to March.

“Model predictions indicate a possible transition to La Niña conditions (of the phenomenon) in the second half of the year,” but “the conditions are still quite uncertain,” noted the climatologist.

The La Niña phenomenon is the opposite of El Niño—it leads to a decrease in global temperatures—but the end of El Niño does not necessarily mean that temperatures will stop rising, that global warming will slow down.

“This phenomenon is added to long-term trends that persist and are directly linked to warming, the increase in the concentrations of gases that cause the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere and the amounts of heat that are absorbed and stored especially in the oceans,” pointed out Mr. Nicolas.

2024, a year of new records?

These trends continue to “push global temperatures towards new records”, warns Carlo Buodembo, director of C3S.

At the end of March, the UN already warned that there was a “high probability” of record temperatures in 2024, while 2023 completed a decade of record heat, pushing the Earth “to the brink”.

For Julien Nicolas of the Copernicus agency, however, “it is still a little early” to predict whether records will be broken again this year, given that 2023 was an excellent year.