July was officially the hottest month ever recorded, at about 1.5C warmer than it would have been before human-induced climate change set in, scientists at the European earth observation agency have concluded.
The assessment comes after researchers at the Copernicus Climate Change Service and the World Meteorological Organization had predicted the month would exceed the highest recorded temperatures by a considerable extent.
The month of July was 0.3C warmer than July 2019, which previously held the record, a notable margin. The year of 2023 so far has been the third-warmest ever, and may go on to surpass 2016 as the hottest on record, Copernicus said.