Current:Home > MyContinental Europe has new hottest day on record at nearly 120°F in Sicily-InfoLens
Continental Europe has new hottest day on record at nearly 120°F in Sicily
View Date:2024-12-23 15:26:40
Europe officially has a new record temperature – 119.8°F – reached on Aug. 11, 2021. The extreme heat, recorded on the Italian island of Sicily, has been deemed the new record temperature for continental Europe by the World Meteorological Organization.
Previously, the record temperature for the continent was 118.4°F, recorded in Athens and Elefsina, Greece, on July 10, 1977.
But in 2021, an automated weather station in Syracuse, Sicily, reached nearly 120°F, prompting a panel of international atmospheric scientists to try and verify the temperature.
August is usually the hottest month for Syracuse but the average temp is 80.1°F, according to climate data. The coldest month is February, when temperatures drop to a mild 52.3°F, on average.
The 120°F day recorded in 2021 is the highest recorded for continental Europe, which includes parts of Asia like Turkey and Syria, according to WMO.
Professor Randall Cerveny, rapporteur of climate and weather extremes for WMO, said investigations like this are lengthy to ensure WMO is properly measuring global temperatures.
"Beyond that, this investigation demonstrates the alarming tendency for continuing high temperature records to be set in specific regions of the world," Cerveny said.
The previous high temperature recorded in Greece was based on official government sources, but has not been verified by WMO, the organization says.
"The extremes presented before the WMO for adjudication are 'snapshots' of our current climate. It is possible, indeed likely, that greater extremes will occur across Europe in the future. When such observations are made, new WMO evaluation committees will be formed to adjudicate such observations as extremes," said Cerveny.
The findings were published in the International Journal of Climatology as well as WMO's Archive of Weather and Climate Extremes, naming Sicily as the location for the hottest temperature ever recorded in continental Europe.
In the region that includes other parts of Europe and the Middle East, Tirat Tsvi, Israel saw the hottest day on record – 129°F in 1942, the archive shows.
The highest temperature ever recorded was in 1913, when Furnace Creek, California – in Death Valley – reached 134°F. The lowest temperature ever recorded was -128.6°F in Vostok, Antarctica, in 1912.
The committee that determined the new high temperature is also looking at other weather phenomena, like whether or not Tropical Cyclone Freddy broke a record in 2023 for longest tropical cyclone.
The Earth saw its hottest year ever in 2023, with a global average temperature of 14.98°C, or 58.96°F, according to Copernicus, the European Union's climate agency. That is 0.17 degrees Celsius higher than 2016, which previously broke the record of highest global average temperature.
Caitlin O'KaneCaitlin O'Kane is a New York City journalist who works on the CBS News social media team as a senior manager of content and production. She writes about a variety of topics and produces "The Uplift," CBS News' streaming show that focuses on good news.
veryGood! (76)
Related
- Blake Snell free agent rumors: Best fits for two-time Cy Young winner
- Iowa vs. Northwestern at Wrigley Field produced fewer points than 6 Cubs games there this year
- Michael J. Fox calls breaking bones due to Parkinson's symptoms a 'tsunami of misfortune'
- Hamas alleges second Israeli strike hit refugee camp
- Richard Allen found guilty in the murders of two teens in Delphi, Indiana. What now?
- Why does Dolly Parton's 'I Will Always Love You' end 'Priscilla,' about Elvis' ex-wife?
- Online database launched to track missing and murdered Indigenous people
- Over 4,000 baby loungers sold on Amazon recalled over suffocation, entrapment concerns
- Federal judge orders Oakland airport to stop using ‘San Francisco’ in name amid lawsuit
- Humanoid robots are here, but they’re a little awkward. Do we really need them?
Ranking
- NATO’s Rutte calls for more Western support for Ukraine, warns of Russian alliances
- Maine mass shooter was alive for most of massive 2-day search, autopsy suggests
- Maine mass shooter was alive for most of massive 2-day search, autopsy suggests
- Real Housewives of Orange County’s Shannon Beador Breaks Silence on DUI Arrest Sentencing
- 12 college students charged with hate crimes after assault in Maryland
- Anthropologie Is Offering an Extra 40% Off Their Sale Section Right Now and We Can’t Get Enough Of It
- Ukrainian war veterans with amputated limbs find freedom in the practice of jiu-jitsu
- Judge dismisses challenge to New Hampshire’s provisional voting law
Recommendation
-
Saving for retirement? How to account for Social Security benefits
-
Bleach can cause your hair to break off. Here's how to lighten your hair without it.
-
Skeleton marching bands and dancers in butterfly skirts join in Mexico City’s Day of the Dead parade
-
A science experiment in the sky attempts to unravel the mysteries of contrails
-
Horoscopes Today, November 12, 2024
-
Phoenix finishes clearing downtown homeless encampment after finding shelter for more than 500
-
Claims of violence, dysfunction plague Atlanta jail under state and federal investigation
-
Shohei Ohtani's free agency takes center stage at MLB's GM meetings