Cuba recorded a record temperature of 40.1 degrees in the southeast of the island on Thursday. August is usually the hottest month of the year on the Caribbean island.
The heat peak is due to the influence of high pressures, strong solar radiation, low cloud cover and weak winds. A UN report confirmed in late March that 2023 was the hottest year on record, with an average global surface temperature 1.45°C above the pre-industrial baseline.. There is a “high probability” that 2024 will in turn show unprecedented temperatures, according to the UN report. The long-term rise in global temperature is due in part to the increase in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The arrival of the El Niño phenomenon in mid-2023 has contributed to the rapid rise in temperatures. The previous record in Cuba was recorded at another weather station in the same province, at 39.7 degrees on April 12, 2020. The current record is 39.8 degrees.