These temperatures have been related to heatwaves in large parts of North America, Asia and Europe, which along with wildfires in countries including Canada and Greece, have had major impacts on people’s health, the environment and economies.

« We don’t have to wait for the end of the month to know this. Short of a mini-Ice Age over the next days, July 2023 will shatter records across the board, » said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

« According to the data released today, July has already seen the hottest three-week period ever recorded; the three hottest days on record; and the highest-ever ocean temperatures for this time of year, » Guterres told journalists at UN headquarters in New York.

« For vast parts of North America, Asia, Africa and Europe – it is a cruel summer. For the entire planet, it is a disaster. And for scientists, it is unequivocal – humans are to blame. All this is entirely consistent with predictions and repeated warnings. The only surprise is the speed of the change, » said Guterres.

On July 6, the daily average global mean surface air temperature surpassed the record set in August 2016, making it the hottest day on record, with July 5 and July 7 shortly behind. The first three weeks of July have been the warmest three-week period on record. Global mean temperature temporarily exceeded the 1.5° Celsius threshold above preindustrial level during the first and third week of the month (within observational error). Since May, the global average sea surface temperature* has been well above previously observed values for the time of the year; contributing to the exceptionally warm July. It is extremely likely that July 2023 will be the hottest July and also the hottest month on record, following on from the hottest June on record. According to ERA5 data the previous hottest month on record was July 2019. Complete ERA5 data for July will be available and published by C3S in their upcoming monthly bulletin on August 8.

It is extremely likely that July 2023 will be the hottest July and also the hottest month on record, following on from the hottest June on record. According to ERA5 data the previous hottest July and month on record was July 2019. Complete ERA5 data for July will be available and published by C3S in their upcoming monthly bulletin on August 8.

WMO consolidates data from C3S and five other international datasets for its climate monitoring activities and its State of the Climate reports.

Daily sea surface temperatures (SSTs) averaged over the global extrapolar oceans (60°S–60°N) have stayed at record values for the time of year since April 2023. Most notably, since about mid-May, global SSTs have risen to unprecedented levels for the time of year. According to ERA5 data, on 19th July, the daily SST value reached 20.94°C, only 0.01°C shy of the highest value recorded for 29th March 2016 (20.95°C).

National meteorological and hydrological services have reported a number of daily and station temperature records and are responsible for verifying any new national temperature records. Thus, China set a new national temperature record of 52.2°C on 16 July (Turpan city in China's Xinjiang province), according to the China Meteorological Administration. WMO’s provisional State of the Global Climate 2023 report, which will be presented to COP28 in December, will incorporate details of new national temperature records.

The temperature record for continental Europe of 48.8°C (119.8°F) measured in Sicily on 11 August 2021 was not broken during the July heatwaves, according to provisional information.

The US city of Phoenix in Arizona on 30 July reported 31 consecutive days with a maximum daytime temperature of at least 110 °F (43.3 °C). Temperature records in the United States of America are maintained by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information.

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