July 3 was the hottest day ever recorded globally, data from the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction has showed. However, it is yet to be officially declared as the hottest day by measurement entities such as the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.

The average worldwide temperature on Monday reached 17.01 degrees Celsius, surpassing the previous record of 16.92 degrees Celsius that was set in August 2016.

Even the Antarctic region experienced very high temperatures despite it being winter there.

“The record global temperature was the result of climate change, caused by burning fossil fuels and other human activities, combined with the emerging El Nino weather pattern,” said Robert Rohde, lead scientist at American climate research organisation Berkeley Earth.

Rohde predicted that the record could be broken again over the coming weeks.

Extreme heat events are becoming increasingly common across the globe. The year 2021 was the world’s seventh hottest on record while 2022 was the fifth hottest.

In India too, heatwaves have become more prevalent in the recent years. In April, the weather department had predicted that most parts of the country will experience above normal heatwaves during the three summer months of April to June. In June, non-profit organisation Climate Central said that a heatwave that swept across Uttar Pradesh that month was made at least two times more likely because of climate change.

Also read: In charts: The toll caused by extreme temperatures in India

The climate scientists who found July 3 to be the hottest day ever have warned that the worst is yet to come.

“...It promises to be only the first in a series of new records set this year,” said Zeke Hausfather, a research scientist at Berkeley Earth. “June was the warmest June ever recorded by a large margin, and July is on track to be the warmest July on record as well. Based on the first six months of the year, it looks increasingly likely that 2023 will end up as the overall warmest year on record.”

Friederike Otto, a senior lecturer on climate science at the Grantham Institute for Climate Change and the Environment, said: “It’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems.”

Also read:Off the charts: What the era of ‘statistically impossible’ heatwaves means for the world