July was Earth's hottest month in at least 142 years
13 August 2021
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said Friday that July was the world's hottest month ever recorded, calling it an "unenviable distinction."
What they're saying: "In this case, first place is the worst place to be," NOAA administrator Rick Spinrad said in a statement. "This new record adds to the disturbing and disruptive path that climate change has set for the globe."
The big picture: July featured an extraordinary series of climate change-related disasters, from multiple heat domes that shattered temperature records in North America, Europe and Asia, to devastating wildfires in Siberia, the Mediterranean, and the American West.
Last week, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued the most comprehensive climate science analysis since 2013, finding that global warming is playing a detectible, growing role in extreme weather and climate events, and noting the world is rapidly nearing the Paris Agreement's temperature target of holding warming to 1.5°C (2.7°F) above preindustrial levels by 2100.
Context: In the IPCC report, scientists analyzed global temperatures starting back to 1850 and used computer models to observe how temperatures would change solely based on natural variability, which they then compared with moderns that incorporate human influences.
- Overall, the data proved, once again, that climate change is man-made.
By the numbers: The combined land and ocean-surface temperature around the world was 1.67°F above the 20th century average. The NOAA said it was the hottest month since instrument record-keeping began in 1880, 142 years ago.
- The previous record was set in July 2016, which was then tied in 2019 and 2020, per NOAA.
- The global land-surface temperature was the highest-ever recorded for July, at an unprecedented 2.77 degrees F (1.54 degrees C) above average, surpassing the previous record set in 2012, per NOAA.
- Asia saw its hottest July on record, beating the earlier record set in 2010, a year that featured a heat wave that killed tens of thousands. Europe had its second-hottest July — tying with 2010 and trailing behind July 2018.
Go deeper:
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.