Rabat – Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Friday reported that the global average temperature for June was 0.32ºC higher than the 1991-2020 average, placing it as the third warmest June on record.
Extreme temperatures – 1.6ºC above average – were recorded in Spain, France, and Italy as the continent experiences its second warmest June on record. The heatwaves extended to North Africa, particularly in the northern parts of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.
China, Japan, Siberia, Canada, Central Africa, Antarctica, the Middle East, and the US also recorded above-average temperatures throughout the past month whereas Greenland and most of South America recorded average temperatures.
Meanwhile, lower-than-average temperatures were experienced in western Russia, central Turkey, Argentina, Southern Africa, Eastern Australia, and Ireland.
The European climate institution also found that new temperature records were broken in June 2022 with daily maximum temperatures exceeding 40°C in Spain, France, and Italy, leading to drought in certain parts of the region. The rising temperatures, for instance, further exacerbated the drought in the Po river basin in Italy.
France’s Biarritz and Spain’s San Sebastian also experienced temperature records in June, said the report, while Banak in northern Norway witnessed a daily maximum temperature of 32.5°C, which could be a new June record for the county once confirmed.
Read Also: Heat Record: Morocco Ties its Highest Recorded Temperature in 2021
The new temperature records documented worldwide reflect the new global norm shaped by climate change. This phenomenon is causing thousands of deaths annually, with Europe having the world’s highest average of 100,000 deaths associated with heat.
The numbers are expected to grow over the coming years, with countries such as India experiencing a “deadly combination of heat and humidity.”
And Morocco is no exception. Over the past two months, the country issued numerous “orange level” weather alerts reporting upcoming heat waves.
The Moroccan General Directorate of Meteorology (DMN) reported on Friday that temperatures across the country will range between 39 and 49°C up until the first day of Eid Al Adha.
This year, the rise in temperatures combined with the lack of rainfall in Morocco has caused serious damage to crop growth with the country experiencing its worst drought in three decades.
Climate change is expected to further complicate the daily lives of people worldwide, causing a surge in heat-related death tolls, threatening the livelihood of farmers, exacerbating food insecurity, and threatening to end a 1400-year-old religious duty of Hajj.
