While much of Australia was blanketed in a cold fog and spitting rain, a world record was being broken.
Monday, July 3 was the hottest day on earth ever recorded in human history.
According to data from scientists at the US National Centres for Environment Prediction, the average temperature around the world was the highest ever on record – smashing the previous record set in 2016.
Many parts of the northern hemisphere were experiencing a brutal heatwave which sent the average global temperature to 17.01 degrees Celsius for the first time in recorded history.
While that average may sound comfortable, it was brought up by sweltering conditions in North America, Asia, and even the South Pole.
The previous world temperature record was set in 2016, when the global average temperature topped 16.92C in August.
A “heat dome” in the southern United States has contributed to several reported deaths over the recent weeks, with temperatures exceeding 43C in the country’s south.
Those warnings have been extended as America prepares to celebrate July 4 marked by blistering heat.
In China, an enduring heatwave continued, with temperatures above 35C.
Parts of North Africa even saw temperatures just shy of 50C.
And islands as far south as Antarctica were hit by the sweltering heat, with Uraine’s Vernadsky Research Base in the white continent’s Argentine Islands breaking its July temperature record with 8.7C.
The heat record comes as the World Meteorological Organisation has declared El Nino’s arrival, predicting hot weather and tumbling temperature records.
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