June 2024: thirteenth record-warm month in a row

June has never been this warm. It was the thirteenth consecutive month to be the warmest on record, which is very likely to herald another change in which year holds the record for the hottest year in recorded history. Last year currently holds the top spot. The information was reported by the European climate change monitoring service Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

Globally, according to C3S hydrometeorological data, this June exceeded the 1991–2020 June average by 0.67 °C. With an average temperature of 16.66 °C, it also surpassed last year's first month of summer by 0.14 °C. The difference is even more pronounced in comparison with the pre-industrial reference period, for which the estimated June temperature is calculated for 1850–1900: 1.5 °C.

Interestingly, this June did not take the top spot in Europe. The 2019 record therefore remains unbeaten. Temperatures were well above average in southeastern regions and Turkey. The overall average was tempered by readings in Western Europe, Iceland and northwestern Russia.

Globally, temperatures were well above average in eastern Canada, the western United States, India and Pakistan. By contrast, it was cooler in eastern Russia and northwestern Africa.

According to climatologists, the reason is the natural phenomenon El Niño, during which warm water spreads farther and remains closer to the surface, releasing more heat into the atmosphere and ultimately creating more humid and warmer air. Scientists also point to human activity.

"El Niño is a naturally occurring phenomenon that will always come and go. We cannot stop El Niño, but we can stop burning oil, gas and coal," said climate scientist Friederike Otto of the Grantham Institute at Imperial College London.

Situation in Czechia

As for measurements in Czechia, the Czech Hydrometeorological Institute reported that June 2024 was well above normal, with an average temperature of 21.2 °C. Overall, it ranked seventh to ninth among all June months since 1775, with exactly five of the six hottest Junes in Czechia recorded after 2000. The deviation from the 1991–2020 normal was +1.6 °C, and as much as +3.0 °C compared with the earlier 1961–1990 period.

The year 2019 is also unbeaten in Czechia, with an average temperature of 24.5 °C. Notably, second place dates back to 1811, with an average temperature of 22.5 °C. For comparison, the coldest June recorded at Prague's Klementinum was in 1923, when the average temperature was 13.2 °C.