Abu Dhabi: Saudi cities of Rafha and Al Jawf in northern Saudi Arabia, and Dammam in the eastern province, have registered three global temperature records during the July, according to Yale Climate Connections website.
The first record temperature of 50.6 degrees Celsius was registered in the city of Rafha on July 24, while Al Jawf recorded 47.6 degrees Celsius on July 26.
The last observation of the highest temperature in the world was 50.4 in Dammam on July 31.
Sweltering summer days can put people’s health at risk. And in most parts of the Gulf region, hot days are increasingly common.
Hottest month
According to the researchers, July witnessed significant increases in temperatures compared to the same time previous years since the beginning of record-keeping.
According to the National Environmental Information Centres of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), on August 13, the temperatures this year are in second place, in comparison with the record set in July 2016.
July was the second warmest month on record, and the Japan Meteorological Agency rated it the fourth warmest July on record.
Often slight differences in classification occur between the different research groups, as a result of the different methods they use to deal with low-data areas such as the North Pole.
Yet another hot year
According to the NEIC, the seven months from January to July rose by an average of 1.05 degrees Celsius, which is a higher rate from the average of the 20th century. This ranks as the second hottest period, after only 0.04° C recorded in 2016.
Annual temperature in 2020 has a great chance to be among the five hottest years since the start of monitoring and if so, then the years 2014 to 2020 will be the seven hottest years on record. Also, projections indicate that 2020 has a 9.36% chance of replacing 2016 as the warmest year on record. These probabilities are based on statistical relationships rather than unfolding weather and climate events.
Global temperature records are likely to be set during the peak of the solar cycle and during extreme El Niño events, given the excess heat from the ocean.
The remarkable warmth for 2020 came in the absence of a strong El Niño and during the shortest cycle of the weakest solar cycles, which lasted 11 years in the last century, confirming the dominant role of human-induced global warming of our planet.
