As anyone who visited the Northern Hemisphere in July will know, it's been a scorching summer.
New data has confirmed that based on global average temperatures July was the hottest month ever recorded for the planet.
- Temperatures to hit 40 degrees Celsius in parts of Europe
- Europe swelters in second heatwave of the month
- Britain confirms highest ever recorded temperature
The record was announced Monday (local time) by the World Meteorological Organisation and the Copernicus Climate Change Service
"While July is usually the warmest month of the year for the globe, according to our data it also was the warmest month recorded globally, by a very small margin," Jean-Noel Thepaut, head of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a statement.
"With continued greenhouse gas emissions and the resulting impact on global temperatures, records will continue to be broken in the future."
Previously, July 2016 was the hottest ever month on record. However, the new data showed July 2019 was slightly hotter than the previous record.
Scientists said this was particularly worrying because July 2016 was marked by a strong El Niño, which is known to cause increased temperatures, while July this year was not.
Record temperatures were set in various countries in Europe in July, as a heatwave drove the mercury up all over the continent.
Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium recorded all-time national temperature highs and the temperature hit a staggering 42.6C in Paris, surpassing the previous record for the city of 40.4C recorded in July 1947.
"We have always lived through hot summers. But this is not the summer of our youth. This is not your grandfather’s summer," UN Secretary-General António Guterres said when he announced the data.
Europe wasn't the only place to feel the brunt of the hot weather. At least 11 people died in Japan in July due to the heat. Although most of the victims were elderly, a 28-year-old man dressed in a mascot costume also passed away due to heatstroke after dancing for 20 minutes in a public park wearing the 16kg suit, reported The Japan Times.
July was also the fourth-warmest on record for Australia, according to the country's Bureau of Meteorology.
The hot July came after data showed that June 2019 was also the hottest June on record.
Newshub.