Despite record-breaking temperatures in July, climate scientists remain optimistic
SAN FRANCISCO -- 2023 was the hottest year on record but scientists are expecting this year will surpass it given the blistering summer heat wave that had California and many Bay Area counties setting new records.
The dog days of summer, which are traditionally the hottest days of the year, just got a little hotter.
According to federal climate scientists at NOAA, July 2024 is now the warmest July on record for the world as well as for the state.
California shattered its previous record by almost 2 degrees F, heating up to an average 81.7 degrees. According to the San Francisco Chronicle and the National Centers for Environmental Information, six out of nine Bay Area Counties also sweltered under record-breaking temperatures.
The bottom line: July is now the 14th consecutive month of record high heat. It's an upward trend that has lasted for more than a year.
"It's hotter than it would otherwise be. We see it over the seasons. Our seasons are changing," explained Dr. Peter Gleick.
Dr. Gleick is a hydro climatologist who heads up the Pacific Institute in Oakland. Earlier this year, CBS News Bay Area spoke with him about heat waves. In an interview, he said the world's record-breaking temperatures are primarily due to climate change which is being stoked by human activity.
"We know that humans are changing the climate. That's no longer an issue for debate. The science is very clear about that," Gleick said.
The concern among many is that disinformation flooding social media platforms in this political year continues to cast doubt on the roles played by human activities in\ climate change.
A recent deep dive into tens of thousands of peer-reviewed climate studies supports Dr. Gleick.
The report, published in Environmental Research Letters, details how there is greater than 99 percent consensus on human caused-climate change in peer-reviewed literature.
"We know that one of the biggest impacts will be rising temperatures," Gleick said.
The good news: While the earth is expected to continue getting warmer, there is cautious optimism about the strategy.
A new report, involving a scholar at Department of Global Ecology with Carnegie Science at Stanford, concludes that the rate of global warming is projected to decline as long as current green-energy policies remain intact.
Those policies include cutting greenhouse gas emissions and switching to cleaner sources of energy. While projections show August might be cooler, experts caution the reprieve likely won't last.
"We still have cooler years, sometimes warmer years but, overall, it's getting hotter and hotter and that's the reality that's facing us today," said Gleick.