ASSOCIATED PRESS • July 13, 2023
An already warming Earth steamed to its hottest June on record, smashing the old global mark, with global oceans setting temperature records for the third straight month. Eleven of the first dozen days in July were hotter than ever on record, according to an unofficial and preliminary analysis by University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer. “The recent record temperatures, as well as extreme fires, pollution and flooding we are seeing this year are what we expect to see in a warmer climate,” said Cornell University climate scientist Natalie Mahowald. “We are just getting a small taste for the types of impacts that we expect to worsen under climate change.” It’s likely most of June’s warming is due to long-term human causes: long-term warming caused by heat-trapping gasses spewed by the burning of coal, oil and natural gas.