July was hot for almost every human on Earth due to climate change

By India Today Environment Desk: Scientists have revealed that human-induced global warming made July unbearably hot for four out of every five people on Earth.

The research, conducted by Climate Central, a science nonprofit, found that over 2 billion individuals experienced climate change-boosted warmth daily throughout the month.

The study, which is yet to be peer-reviewed due to its recent completion, utilized climate fingerprinting methods that are widely accepted by the National Academy of Sciences.

These methods were used to analyze temperatures across the globe in real time, comparing recorded temperatures to a simulated world without climate change. The results were startling.

"By now, we should all be used to individual heat waves being connected to global warming," said Gabriel Vecchi, a climate scientist at Princeton University.

"Unfortunately, this month, as this study elegantly shows, has given the vast majority of people on this planet a taste of global warming's impact on extreme heat."

The report disclosed that more than 6.5 billion people, representing 81% of the world's population, endured at least one day in July where climate change significantly affected the average daily temperature. This phenomenon was not confined to a specific region; it was a global experience.

Researchers scrutinized 4,711 cities and discovered climate change fingerprints in 4,019 of them. The burning of coal, oil, and natural gas had tripled the likelihood of hotter temperatures on at least one day in these cities.

In the United States, Florida bore the brunt of the climate effect, with over 244 million people feeling the intensified heat due to climate change during July.

The city most affected by climate change in the US was Cape Coral, Florida. Here, fossil fuels made hotter temperatures 4.6 times more likely for the month, with a significant climate change fingerprint observed on 29 out of 31 days.

However, the farther north in the US, the less of a climate effect was seen in July, with places like North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, northern California, upstate New York, and parts of Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin experiencing no significant effect.

The day with the most widespread climate-change effect was July 10, when an astounding 3.5 billion people experienced extreme heat that bore the unmistakable mark of global warming. This is a stark reminder of the urgent need for comprehensive action to combat climate change, a crisis that is no longer looming but is already upon us.