For a third day this week, planet Earth on Thursday broke its average global heat record.
The planetary average on Thursday was 63 degrees Fahrenheit (17.23 degrees Celsius), breaking July 4th’s record average temperature of 62.92 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius), which the planet tied the very next day.
July 4th’s record broke the previous heat record, which was July 3rd.
Thursday’s data came from the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a tool that uses satellite data and computer simulations to measure the world’s condition.
The figures are not an official government record, but “this is showing us an indication of where we are right now,” said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) chief scientist Sarah Kapnick.
NOAA indicated earlier this week that it would take the figures into consideration for its official record calculations.
Record planetary highs included Jingxing, China, which sweltered under temperatures of almost 110 degrees Fahrenheit (43.3 degrees Celsius).
Pointing to a combination of climate change and El Niño—a weakening of trade winds that causes northern U.S. and Canada to be dryer and warmer than usual—climate scientists have warned that this week’s records are likely to be repeatedly broken over the next several months.
Climate Reanalyzer’s data also points to an exceptionally mild winter in the Antarctic as one of the main contributors to this week’s record high temperatures. Parts of the South Pole’s continent and its nearby ocean are currently 18-36 degrees Fahrenheit (10-20 degrees Celsius) warmer than averages from 1979-2000.
Heat is the deadliest natural disaster known to humans, killing more every year than other extreme weather events, including flooding, tornadoes, hurricanes or lightning.
On Monday, 65-year-old man was found dead in his car when temperatures in Death Valley National Park reached 126 degrees Fahrenheit (52.2 degrees Celsius).
Triple-digit Fahrenheit temperatures during a heat wave in Texas at the end of June sent emergency room visits surging and led to the deaths of at least nine people in that state.
