1.3 billion had hottest June-August on record, AFP says

About 1.3 billion people worldwide experienced their hottest June-to-August period on record this year, according to an AFP analysis of meteorological data from the European Copernicus programme.

The analysis found that 52 countries across all continents broke seasonal temperature records for the period. It said the heat appeared in many forms, including heatwaves in Europe, drought in Sudan and smoke in Indonesia.

The Copernicus dataset uses satellite and ground-station measurements as well as modelling. It covers the whole world with hourly data going back to 1970.

AFP said El Nino had already contributed to extreme heat in Central America and northern South America, where nine countries had their hottest June-to-August period on record. El Salvador was 2.5C hotter than the 1991-2020 average, while drought in Panama led authorities to reduce ship transits through the Panama Canal.

In Indonesia, nearly 100 million people experienced their hottest June-to-August spell on record. The drought fuelled fires in tropical jungles on Borneo and Sumatra in August, with smoke spreading to Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia, where schools were forced to close.

AFP estimated that at least 35,000 excess deaths or deaths directly linked to heat had been recorded in Europe, based on health reports from mid-June to the end of August in Germany, England, Austria, Belgium, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Portugal.

The analysis also found 18 African countries broke seasonal records, including countries in west and east Africa. It said the Nile was at an abnormally low level in Sudan, where delayed rains had left farmland uncultivated.