Sunday Was the Hottest Day on Earth

Sunday wasn't just hot, it was the hottest day in the planet's recorded history, reports Reuters. Details:

• The new mark: The average temperature hit 17.09 degrees Celsius, or 62.76 degrees Fahrenheit, as recorded by the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service, per CNN. That eclipses the mark set only last year by 0.01 degrees Celsius.
• Context: The tiny increase may not seem like much, but the Washington Post notes that before last year's record, the previous mark was 16.8 degrees Celsius, set in 2016. In "the past year, the global has exceeded that old record on 57 days." As Copernicus director Carlo Buontempo puts it, "What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records."

• More context: Since June 2023, every month on record has ranked as the planet's hottest, when compared to previous years, notes Reuters. And Sunday's mark isn't just the hottest day since humans started keeping records: Both CNN and the Post say it's the hottest since the dawn of the last Ice Age 100,000 years ago, based on research from paleoclimate scientists.
• What's ahead: "We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years," says Buontempo.

(More climate change stories.)