Newsletter Issue 46 (August 2024)

The Weather of July 2024 – An exceptionally hot July

With a stronger than usual subtropical ridge dominating over southern China for most of the time in the month, July 2024 was exceptionally hot in Hong Kong. The monthly mean minimum temperature of 28.0 degrees, monthly mean temperature of 29.9 degrees and monthly mean maximum temperature of 32.4 degrees were respectively 1.1 degrees, 1.0 degrees and 0.8 degrees above their normals and respectively one of the third, the fourth and one of the ninth highest on record for July.

July sets new temperature records

Extreme heat hit hundreds of millions of people throughout July, with a domino effect felt right across society. July was one of the hottest – if not the hottest – month on modern record, and the world’s hottest day was registered – yet another unwelcome indication of the extent that greenhouse gases from human activities are changing our climate.

July 2024 Global Climate Report

July 2024 was the warmest July on record for the globe in NOAA’s 175-year record. The July global surface temperature was 1.21°C above the 20th-century average of 15.8°C. This is 0.03°C warmer than the previous July record set last year, and the 14th consecutive month of record-high global temperatures. This breaks the longest record warm global temperature streak in the modern record (since 1980) previously set from May 2015—May 2016.

July was second warmest on record, ending record-breaking 13-month streak

July 2024 was the second-warmest July globally in our data record, with an average ERA5 surface air temperature of 16.91°C. This was 0.68°C above the 1991-2020 average for July, and only 0.04°C lower than the previous high set in July 2023. Nevertheless, this marks the end of a 13-month period when each month was the warmest in the ERA5 data record for the respective month of the year.

CMA launches parallel comparison of Beidou sounding

On July 1, the national upper-air meteorological observing station in Dalian, China officially launched the parallel and comparative observation of the Beidou sounding system and the L-band sounding system. At 7:50 on July 26, the first set of 500 hPA information from 120 Beidou sounding stations in China on the same day was uploaded in real time to the meteorological big data cloud platform “Tianqing” system of China Meteorological Administration for the first time, marking the official development of the parallel comparison of Beidou sounding in China.

Scientists have more evidence to explain why billions of crabs vanished around Alaska

Fishermen and scientists were alarmed when billions of crabs vanished from the Bering Sea near Alaska in 2022. It wasn’t overfishing, scientists explained — it was likely the shockingly warm water that sent the crabs’ metabolism into overdrive and starved them to death. But their horrific demise appears to be just one impact of the massive transition unfolding in the region, scientists reported in a new study released: Parts of the Bering Sea are literally becoming less Arctic.

Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2)

The graphs show monthly mean carbon dioxide measured at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii. The carbon dioxide data on Mauna Loa constitute the longest record of direct measurements of CO2 in the atmosphere. They were started by C. David Keeling of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in March of 1958 at a facility of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [Keeling, 1976].

Climate change transforms Pacific Islands

A triple whammy of accelerating sea level rise, ocean warming and acidification is imperilling Pacific Islands, which face growing threats to their socioeconomic viability and indeed their very existence because of climate change. Key messages:
1. Climate change threatens the future of Pacific islands
2. Sea level rise accelerates and is above global average
3. Ocean heating and acidification harm ecosystems and livelihoods
4. Early warnings are integral part of climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction

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