Climate change:World’s hottest day since records began

The world’s average temperature reached a new high on Monday 3 July, topping 17 degrees Celsius for the first time.

Scientists say the reading was the highest in any instrumental record dating back to the end of the 19th century.

The high heat is due to a combination of the El Niño weather event and ongoing emissions of carbon dioxide.

Researchers believe there will be more records in the coming months as El Niño strengthens.

Since the start of this year, researchers have been growing increasingly concerned about rapidly rising temperatures on land and at sea.

Record spring heat in Spain and in many countries in Asia was followed by marine heatwaves in places that don’t normally see them, such as in the North Sea.

This week China continued to experience an enduring heatwave with temperatures in some places above 35C, while the southern US has also been subject to stifling conditions.

Against this background, the global average temperature reached 17.01C on 3 July, according to the US National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

This broke the previous record of 16.92C that had stood since August 2016.

Monday’s high is the warmest since satellite monitoring began in 1979. Experts also believe it is the highest since widespread instrumental records began towards the end of the 19th century.