FILE - Demonstrators pretend to resuscitate the Earth while advocating for the 1.5 degree warming goal to survive at the COP27 U.N. Climate Summit, Nov. 16, 2022, in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Worldwide temperatures briefly exceeded a key warming threshold earlier this month, drawing notice from scientists and experts who warned of more extremes ahead as the planet enters an El Nino phase.
The mercury has since dipped again, but experts say the short surge marked a new global heat record for June and indicates more extremes ahead as the planet enters an El Niño phase that could last years. Researchers at the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said Thursday that the start of June saw global surface air temperatures rise 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for the first time. That is“Just because we’ve temporarily gone over 1.5 degrees doesn’t mean we’ve breached the Paris Agreement limit," cautioned Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus program.
Still, the 11 days spent at the 1.5-degree threshold shows how important it is for scientists to keep a close watch on the planet's health, not least because previous spikes above 1.5 have all happened during winter or spring in the northern hemisphere, she said. “It’s really critical to monitor the situation, to understand what implications this has for the summer to come.”
“As a climate scientist I feel like I am watching a global train wreck in slow motion. It’s quite frustrating,” said University of Victoria's Andrew Weaver, who wasn't part of the measurements.