Record Heat

The hottest day on record globally happened this week and some scientists believe it could have been the hottest day on Earth in 125,000 years.

The average worldwide temperature on Tuesday reached 17.18°C (62.9°F), breaking the record of 17.01°C (62.6°F) set just a day earlier.

The previous highest global temperature was in mid-August 2016.

While the low 60s may not sound very hot to the millions of Americans sweating through a summer heat wave, the figure is almost a full degree Celsius above the average temperature between 1979 and 2000 and represents a new indicator that Earth’s climate is heating up faster than anticipated, meteorologists say.