Here are 5 things to know about the planet’s 13-month heat streak

The planet cooled slightly with the ebbing of El Niño, but global warming will continue due to the burning of fossil fuels.

After 13 months of what felt like an endless breaking of heat records, the streak came to an end last month — just barely. The European climate agency Copernicus said Thursday that July 2024’s average heat just missed surpassing July of last year. While the slightly cooler month is good news and could provide some minor relief for people exposed to extreme heat, scientists warned that the root cause of the rising temperatures, climate change, remains the same.