Thermal record: over 50 degrees in Morocco

Morocco set a new heat record. As announced by the North African country’s meteorological authorities on Sunday, the temperature in the southern port city of Agadir rose to 50.4 degrees on Friday. This temperature exceeded the 49.9 degrees recorded on July 13 in the city of Smara in the Western Desert.

“The heat wave is caused by the influx of hot and dry air from the south, which led to a significant rise in temperatures ranging between 5 and 13 degrees above the monthly average,” the Moroccan Meteorological Authority said in a statement.

The heat wave has led to forest fires in northern Morocco in the past few days. In the coming days, meteorologists expect a slight drop in temperatures in the northern regions of Africa.

The hottest month of July on record

July was by far the hottest month on Earth since records began. According to the European Earth observation program Copernicus, the global average air temperature last month was 0.33 degrees higher than the previous record month in July 2019, when the global average temperature was 16.63 degrees.

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