That didn't take long! Hottest world temperature record is broken for a second day in row, with average global temperatures hitting 17.15°C on Monday

Just one day after scientists announced that Sunday was Earth's hottest day, we already have a new record-holder. 

Monday (July 22) is now the planet's warmest day in recorded history, according to experts at the EU's climate change programme. 

The average global temperature for Monday was 62.87°F (17.15°C) – 0.1°F (0.06°C) hotter than Sunday, which recorded a global average of 62.76°F (17.09°C). 

And there's a good chance that when the data comes in for Tuesday, it will be three straight days of global record breaking heat. 

Experts point the finger at the fossil fuel industry, which emits greenhouse gases such as CO2 and methane by burning fossil fuels like coal, gas and oil. 

Carlo Buontempo, the director of the European climate service Copernicus (CS3), said 'these peaks are not normally isolated'. 

'The climate is generally warming up as a consequence of the increase in greenhouse gases,' he said. 

The two consecutive records are due to unseasonably warm oceans as well as higher temperatures than normal in Antarctica, the western United States and Canada and eastern Siberia. 

At the same time, Europe has sweltered through its own deadly heat wave, with forest fires in Greece and Croatia, which are more common in dry conditions. 

Buontempo said the high temperatures in recent days are consistent with the idea that human-caused climate change is accelerating, but that it is too soon to reach that conclusion.

'It may be the first sign of change in the rate of the temperature increase,' he said. 

We already know that June 2024 was the 13th consecutive record-breaking month in terms of heat. 

In other words, every month since June 2023 has been the hottest ever recorded for that particular month – signifying an ongoing warming trend. 

'What is truly staggering is how large the difference is between the temperature of the last 13 months and the previous temperature records,' Buontempo said earlier this week. 

'We are now in truly uncharted territory and as the climate keeps warming, we are bound to see new records being broken in future months and years.' 

Dr Zeke Hausfather, climate scientist at Berkeley Earth, now estimates there's a 92 per cent chance that 2024 will beat 2023 as the warmest year on record.

'It's certainly a worrying sign coming on the heels of 13 straight record-setting months,' he said. 

Climate scientists say this could be the warmest it has been in 120,000 years because of human-caused climate change. 

However it cannot be certain whether Monday was the very hottest day in that period because CS3's records only go back to 1940. 

'For most of the last 120,000 years, we were in an ice age and today is clearly warmer than that,' said Texas A&M University climate scientist Andrew Dessler.

According to the academic, studies indicate we are now in the hottest period in the last 10,000 years.

Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology, stressed that these records can kill people. 

'We are in an age where weather and climate records are frequently stretched beyond our tolerance levels, resulting in insurmountable loss of lives and livelihoods,' he said. 

C3S, managed by the European Commission, looks at temperature readings based on a variety of platforms and instruments, from weather stations to weather balloons and satellites. 

The department's readings refer to the average air temperature for the whole planet over the whole year – so lower than a single typically 'hot' temperature reading. 

Social media commentators were left angry by the announcement that June was the hottest month on record with one saying 'we had our heating on'. 

But CS3 does not just focus on the UK or indeed any one specific area; it takes the entire planet into account. 

Looking solely the UK, Friday was the hottest day of the year so far, according to the Met Office, while 2023 was the second-warmest year since records began in 1884.