April 2024 warmest since 1979; eleventh month in a row that is warmest: Report
Children playing in the Arabian sea in Mumbai on a hot day on Friday.
This April was the warmest since 1979, making it the eleventh month in a row that is the warmest on record, according to Copernicus Climate Change Service.
April 2024 was warmer globally than any previous April in the data record (1979 to 2024), with an average surface air temperature of 15.03 degree C, 0.67 degree C above the 1991-2020 average for April and 0.14 degree C above the previous high set in April 2016.
The ERA 5 dataset shows most parts of peninsular India record above normal temperatures during April. There were some patches in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal that were among the warmest globally, maps show.
This is the eleventh month in a row that is the warmest in the ERA5 data record for the respective month of the year. While unusual, a similar streak of monthly global temperature records happened previously in 2015/2016, when El Nino was at play. HT reported on May 1 that despite normal to below normal temperatures over northwest India, extreme temperatures over rest of the country especially east and south peninsular India made this April the 8th warmest since 1901 in India. The mean temperature for the country was 29.06 degree C, 0.76 degree C above normal.
It was the warmest April in eastern and northeastern India in terms of both mean and night temperatures since records began in 1901 according to updated analysis presented by IMD on Wednesday. The minimum temperature over the region in April was 1.78 degree C above normal and mean temperature was 2 degree C above normal.
For South Peninsular India, it was the second warmest April since 1901 with average maximum temperature recorded 1.35 degree C above normal; minimum temperature 1.09 degree C above normal and mean temperature 1.22 degree C above normal, according to IMD.
The month was globally 1.58°C warmer than an estimate of the April average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period. The global-average temperature for the past 12 months (May 2023 – April 2024) is the highest on record, at 0.73°C above the 1991-2020 average and 1.61°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.
“The average European temperature for April 2024 was 1.49°C above the 1991-2020 average for April, making the month the second warmest April on record for the continent. Temperatures were most above average in eastern European regions. Fennoscandia and Iceland experienced below-average temperatures. The mean temperature, however, masks the contrast between warmer and colder temperatures experienced at the start and latter part of April in western Europe,” Copernicus said on Wednesday.
Outside Europe, temperatures were most above average over northern and northeastern North America, Greenland, eastern Asia, northwest Middle East, parts of South America, and most of Africa.
The El Niño in the eastern equatorial Pacific continued to weaken towards neutral conditions, but marine air temperatures in general remained at an unusually high level.
The global sea surface temperature (SST) averaged for April 2024 was 21.04°C, the highest value on record for the month, marginally below the 21.07°C recorded for March 2024.
This is the 13th month in a row that the SST has been the warmest in the ERA5 data record for the respective month of the year.
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