July breaks 40-year record as hottest month

July was the hottest month on record in the last 40 years, with average temperatures recorded at the Athalassa station reaching 40C, the Cyprus Institute revealed on Thursday.

According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, this summer was also the warmest across the globe, with an average temperature of 16.77C, or 0.66C above average.

Closer to home, the Cyprus Institute found a similar pattern, observing not only that July was the hottest month in the past four decades, but that it was the month where the highest number of extreme temperatures were recorded consecutively – amounting to 16 days in a row.

Between July 13 and 29, the maximum temperature exceeded 40C.

“This duration of extreme heat is unprecedented in the past 41 years, based on the data from Athalassa station. The last record was in July 1987 and 2000, where there were 10 consecutive days of temperatures exceeding 40C.”

Weather conditions in June this year were normal, with the average temperature at 33.9C, the institute noted. Nonetheless, the temperature spike in the following two months led to 40C in July and 38.9C in August, amounting to a 2.6C and 1.5C respective increase from the averages recorded between 1991 – 2020.

Despite the temperature increases recorded monthly, recent summers have unusually high temperatures on certain days, according to the Cyprus Institute.

At the Athalassa station, in 2020, there were 48 days with a maximum temperature of 40C, of which 30 were recorded over summer periods and the rest throughout the year.

Specifically, six were in May, nine in September and one in October.

The Cyprus Institute said the data was yet another indication of climate change.