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Temperatures hit record high as mercury continues to climb

The world has now marked one full year of back-to-back monthly heat records, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service announced on June 5.

It said last month was the hottest May in recorded history — the 12th consecutive month in which the monthly high temperature record was broken.

It was also the 11th consecutive month where the global average temperature was at least 1.5 degrees above the preindustrial average. If that trend continues, it would mean the world is passing a major climate change milestone.

The effect has been felt around the globe. The United States is facing another summer of extreme heat along with wildfires in California and an explosive hurricane season in the Atlantic. In the past month, deadly floods killed hundreds in Afghanistan, Brazil and Indonesia, while dozens have died in India from extreme heat.

But this might only be the beginning, experts warned. "This string of hottest months will be remembered as comparatively cold," Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a statement.

Buontempo said the trend is "shocking but not surprising".

While the record-breaking streak might be interrupted, "the overall signature of climate change remains and there is no sign in sight of a change in such a trend", Buontempo said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a special address in New York that for the past year, every turn of the calendar has turned up the heat.

"Our planet is trying to tell us something. But we don't seem to be listening. We're shattering global temperature records and reaping the whirlwind," Guterres said.