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A Kashmiri man cools off at a stream on a hot summer day on the outskirts of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Tuesday, July 4, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

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A youth dives off the malecon seawall into the water to cool off in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human record keeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

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A security guard wearing an electric fan on his neck wipes his sweat on a hot day in Beijing, Monday, July 3, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

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A man cools off at an urban beach at Madrid Rio park in Madrid, Spain, Monday, June 26, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

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A woman uses a fan to cool a child as they sit on a bench at Qianmen pedestrian shopping street on a hot day in Beijing, Thursday, June 29, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

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Tubers float the cool Comal River in New Braunfels, Texas, Thursday, June 29, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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Lucas Harrington, age 7, cools off in a mister at Kauffman Stadium as temperatures approach 100 degrees fahrenheit before a baseball game between the Kansas City Royals and the Cleveland Guardians, Wednesday, June 28, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

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Visitors wear sun hats and carry umbrellas as they leave the Forbidden City on a hot day in Beijing, Thursday, June 29, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

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Construction worker Fernando Padilla wipes his face as he works in the heat, Friday, June 30, 2023 in Nashville, Tenn. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

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Zoologist Kris Marshall uses a water canon to help an elephant keep cool from the heat at the Dallas Zoo in Dallas, Friday, June 30, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human recordkeeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. The unofficial heat records come after months of unusually hot conditions due to climate change and a strong El Nino event. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

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A pedestrian shades herself with an umbrella in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human record keeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

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A pedestrian shades herself with an umbrella in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, July 5, 2023. The entire planet sweltered for the two unofficial hottest days in human record keeping Monday and Tuesday, according to University of Maine scientists at the Climate Reanalyzer project. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

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BY MELINA WALLING AND SETH BORENSTEINPublished 9:05 AM GMT+7, July 5, 2023Share

The planet’s temperature spiked on Tuesday to its hottest day in decades and likely centuries, and Wednesday could become the third straight day Earth unofficially marks a record-breaking high. It’s the latest in a series of climate-change extremes that alarm but don’t surprise scientists.

The globe’s average temperature reached 62.9 degrees Fahrenheit (17.18 degrees Celsius) on Tuesday, according to the University of Maine’s Climate Reanalyzer, a common tool based on satellite data, observations, and computer simulations and used by climate scientists for a glimpse of the world’s condition. On Monday, the average temperature was 62.6 degrees Fahrenheit (17.01 degrees Celsius), setting a record that lasted only 24 hours.

For scientists, it’s a sweaty case of I-told-you-so.

“A record like this is another piece of evidence for the now massively supported proposition that global warming is pushing us into a hotter future,” said Stanford University climate scientist Chris Field, who was not part of the calculations.

On Wednesday, 38 million Americans were under some kind of heat alert, said National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration chief scientist Sarah Kapnick. She said the global heat is from a natural El Nino warming of the Pacific that heats up the planet as it changes worldwide weather on top of human-caused climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas.