August 2024 – Hottest August on Record – Bob Ramsak

The European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service released its dataset for August 2024 today, which found that:

August 2024 was the joint-warmest August globally in the ERA5 dataset, tied with August 2023, with an average surface air temperature of 16.82°C. Last month was 0.71°C above the 1991-2020 average for August. This concludes the warmest global average temperature for the boreal summer (June to August) on record, at 0.69°C above the 1991-2020 average for these three months, exceeding the previous record set in 2023 (0.66°C).

Edited on 13 September to add that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released data for the month that showed that the planet had its hottest August in 175 years of record-keeping, and that the (northern hemisphere) summer of 2024 will go down as the warmest summer on record.

The average global land and ocean surface temperature in August was 2.29 degrees F (1.27 degrees C) above the 20th-century average of 60.1 degrees F (15.6 degrees C), ranking as the warmest August in the global climate record. This August marks the 15th-consecutive month of record-high global temperatures — which is itself a record streak.

During the meteorological summer which ended on 31 August, France experienced two heatwaves on the national scale, according to figures released on 2 September by Meteo France.

The first, brief but intense, affected a large southern half of the country between July 29 and August 2. The second took place from August 6 to 13, and affected a large part of France, with the exception of the North-West.

Superlatives from the first heatwave (29 July – 2 August, all data from Meteo France):

On July 30 90% of France experiences temperatures above 30°C and 40% of France has a temperature above 35°C.
The 40°C threshold was crossed daily for 4 of the 5 days of the heat wave (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday).

Here in Nice, we had an evening low of 26.9°C on 30 July.

Superlatives from the second heatwave (6-13 August 2024):

During the hot peak of August 11 and 12, the maximum temperatures were between 35 and 40 °C over a large part of the country, and few regions were spared by nighttime temperatures above 20 °C. Locally, the minimum temperatures even reached more than 25 °C. For a mid-summer, this episode is nevertheless not exceptional in the current climate.

The frequency of heat waves is expected to double by 2050.

Nice does employ a warning system for heatwaves and poor air quality. A few signs I spotted this month: at top, on the Promenade des Anglais on 31 July during the first heatwate; and below photos taken at the Jean Medecin tram stop and the Monaco-Monte Carlo Train Station, both on 12 August during the second heatwave.