A 13-month streak of global temperature records just ended. Here are five takeaways

NEW YORK (AP) — After 13 months of what felt like an endless breaking of heat records, the streak came to an end last month — just barely. The European climate agency Copernicus said Thursday that July 2024’s average heat just missed surpassing July of last year. While the slightly cooler month is good news and could provide some minor relief for people exposed to extreme heat, scientists warned that the root cause of the rising temperatures, climate change, remains the same.

Here are five takeaways from the 13-month heat streak that just ended:

Extremes will continue

One factor in the slight cooling is the ebbing of El Nino, a naturally occurring pattern of warming in part of the Pacific that shifts weather patterns around the world. But even if that helps avoid more records being broken soon, the upward trend of temperatures won’t stop. That is because the driver of global warming, the release of greenhouse gases from the burning of fuels like oil, gas and coal, continues all but unabated. The upshot: extreme weather events like intense storms, heat waves and prolonged droughts will continue.

Hot oceans

Sometimes lost in all the focus on the heat around us is how warm the oceans are. Oceans have absorbed huge quantities of CO2, making them key climate regulators. Beyond that, warm oceans have devastating consequences, from the die-off of fish and other sea animals to creating prime conditions for powerful hurricanes. Ocean temperatures have risen so much that a few months ago scientists said the world was on the brink of the worst coral bleaching event in history. This week, a new study found that temperatures in the Great Barrier Reef, off the cost of Australia, were the warmest they had been in 400 years.

1.5 not likely