Europe officially set new record in 2023 for continent's hottest temperature ever
The World Meteorological Organization has certified that a temperature recorded in Sicily in August 2023 set the new record for Europe's highest temperature ever recorded.
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SICILY, Italy – It's official. There is a new record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Continental Europe.
The World Meteorological Organization recently certified that Syracuse on the Italian island of Sicily hit 119.8 degrees Fahrenheit (48.8 degrees Celsius) on Aug. 11, 2023.
The previous record for Europe was set in 1977 when Athens and Elefsina, Greece, hit 118.4 degrees F (48 degrees C).
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File: A girl pours a bottle of water on her face and head as she cools off in front of a church in the center of Messina, on the island of Sicily, during a heat wave on July 16, 2023.
(GIOVANNI ISOLINO/AFP / Getty Images)
‘Painstaking’ certification process
If you are wondering why it took until January to certify an August temperature, the WMO said, they have strict protocols.
"Most investigations – like this one – are lengthy procedures because of the meticulous care that the WMO undertakes in certifying weather observations," Randall Cerveny, Rapporteur of Climate and Weather Extremes for WMO, said in a statement. "Such painstaking evaluation provides the critical confidence that our global records of temperatures are properly being measured. Beyond that, this investigation demonstrates the alarming tendency for continuing high temperature records to be set in specific regions of the world."
The U.S. still holds the record of the world's hottest temperature ever recorded, which is 134 degrees F (56.7 degrees C) in Furnace Creek Ranch, California in Death Valley. That record was set in July 1913 when the thermometer being used topped out at 135 degrees (57.2 degrees C), according to Arizona State University and the WMO.
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File: A heat advisory sign is shown along US highway 190 during a heat wave in Death Valley National Park in Death Valley, California, on July 16, 2023.
(Ronda Churchill / AFP / Getty Images)
2023 was world's hottest year on record
The heat plagued not only continental Europe but also the U.S. The world had its hottest July and August on record in 2023. July was actually the hottest month on record, ever, around the globe. August 2023 came in second.
The WMO stated that the period from January to August 2023 was the second-warmest on record, following 2016.
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File: A man refreshes himself in a fountain during a hot summer day in Messina, Sicily.
(GIOVANNI ISOLINO/AFP / Getty Images)
The extreme heat waves during the summer in the Northern Hemisphere caused destructive wildfires, affected public health, and disrupted daily routines, according to WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas. In the Southern Hemisphere, the lack of Antarctic sea ice extent reached an unprecedented level, and the global sea surface temperature broke another record.
It was not only the land that was scorching. Sea surface temperatures broke a world record high in August, too – 69.76 degrees F (21 degrees C).
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File: A seal floats on an ice floe in Spitsbergen, Norway.
(Wolfgang Kaehler / LightRocket / Getty Images)
After record summer heat, 2023 culminated in being declared the hottest year on record since recordkeeping began in 1880.