Svalbard had warmest June on record

“We cannot draw certain conclusions based on the June figures alone, but nevertheless sense a development that is in line with the researchers’ forecasts. The backdrop is climate change. They affect the northern areas earlier and more strongly than areas further south in Europe,” says Per Egil Haga with the Norwegian Meteorological Institute to Svalbardposten. 

Although more measurable in the Arctic, the heat is a dramatic global trend.

June 2024 became the warmest June on record for the earth in the 175-year history of measurements, reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the United States.

The June global surface temperature was 1.22°C above the 20th-century average of 15.5°C.

June was the 13th consecutive month of record-warm global temperatures, the researchers concluded.

Dramatic changes are also measured in the sea with surface temperatures consistently higher during the past three decades than at any other time since reliable observations began in 1880.

Global sea surface temperatures were record warm for the 15th consecutive month, the NOAA reported. 

Ny-Ålesund, the world’s northernmost settlement, had an average temperature of 5.4°C, which is 2.6°C above normal. This is the second highest average temperature recorded for June, only beaten by 2022 with 5.6°C, according to the Norwegian Meteorological Institute.

When the Barents Observer visited Ny-Ålesund at the year’s longest day, people celebrated Midsummer under the Midnight sun by the shores of Kongsfjorden. The marine eco-system in Kongsfjorden has over the course of the last 20 years have changed from Arctic marine life to more of an Atlantic marine life.

Such Atlantification worries the international climate science community in Ny-Ålesund. 

Midsummer beach party in Ny-Ålesund this June. Photo: Thomas Nilsen

See more photos from Midsummer at Svalbard in the gallery below.