Austria: Hottest April since records began

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Another climate record: April 2024 was the eleventh month in a row warmer than any of the previous months measured. According to data from the EU climate change service Copernicus, it was also the first recorded April with a global average temperature of over 15 degrees. According to Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo, the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases ‘will continue to drive global temperatures towards new record levels.’

The service announced on Wednesday that the air temperature at the surface averaged 15.03 degrees in April, 0.67 degrees higher than the April average for the years 1991 to 2020. In Europe, April was even 1.49 degrees warmer than the comparable period. This is not unusual: Europe is heating the fastest of all continents, according to the European Environment Agency (EEA).

Compared to the period from 1850 to 1900, the pre-industrial reference period, the month was 1.58 degrees warmer globally. The global average temperature for the past twelve months (May 2023 to April 2024) is the highest since records began and is 1.61 degrees above the pre-industrial average. However, this does not yet mean that the 1.5-degree target of the Paris Agreement has been missed, as longer-term average values are used for this purpose. Copernicus recently wrote that if the temperature trend of the past 30 years continues, this will happen in 2033.

The European Union’s Copernicus climate change service regularly publishes Earth’s surface temperature, sea ice cover, and precipitation data. The findings are based on computer-generated analyses incorporating billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft, and weather stations worldwide. The data used dates back to 1950, with some earlier data also available.