With the data now in for the first half of the year, Carbon Brief estimates that 2020 has an 87% probability of being the warmest year on record.

In the first six months of 2020; Australia saw record heat, and Siberia experienced staggering heat with northern Siberia around 7C warmer than the pre-industrial period. Scientists recently concluded that this level of extreme heat would have been almost impossible in the absence of human-caused global warming,

Arctic sea ice has also been at record low levels for most of the month of July. It’s too early to know for sure what the summer minimum will be, but 2020 will likely see one of the lowest Arctic sea ice extents on record.

And so it continues, with more detailed comments about the high temperatures experienced

This information comes from Carbon Brief, carbonbrief.org which is a UK-based website covering the latest developments in climate science, climate policy and energy policy. You can sign up to have daily or weekly email briefings of the latest news on carbon and energy in leading newspapers, journals and specialist websites, as well as extra specialist articles at carbonbrief.org/daily-weekly-briefing-sign-up