THE entire planet sweltered to the unofficial hottest day in human recordkeeping on July 3, scientists at the University of Maine Climate Reanalyzer project said on Tuesday.

The global daily average temperature for July 3 came in at 17.01°C or 62.6°F, according to the researchers. 

This average temperature is the first time in the 44 years of this dataset that the temperature surpassed the 17°C mark.

High temperature records were surpassed July 3 and 4 in Quebec and north-western Canada and Peru. 

Cities across the United States from Medford, Oregon, to Tampa, Florida, have been hovering at all-time highs, said Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. 

Beijing reported nine straight days last week when the temperature exceeded 35°C.

Deke Arndt, director of the National Centre for Environmental Information, said we wouldn’t be seeing anywhere near record-warm days unless we were in “a warm piece of what will likely be a very warm era.”

Hotter global average temperatures translate into brutal conditions for people all over the world. 

“People aren’t used to that. Their bodies aren’t used to that,” said Erinanne Saffell, an Arizona state climatologist.