Global temperatures reach record highs in early June, sparking fears of hottest year on record.
Global surface air temperatures briefly rose 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels earlier this month, marking a new global heat record for June and indicating more extremes ahead as the planet enters an El Niño phase that could last years. While this doesn't mean the Paris Agreement limit has been breached, scientists warn that the warmer the global climate is, the more likely we are to have extreme events and the more severe those extreme events may be.