Hunga Tonga: The Eruption That Didn’t Change Climate History
This may, in fact, be the coldest year of the rest of your life.
One year ago, scientists speculated that the underwater eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano, which blasted 146 metric megatons of water into the stratosphere, could be contributing to atmospheric warming.
The global average temperature for the past 12 months (July 2023 — June 2024) has since been the highest on record, 1.68°C (3.02 °F) above the pre-industrial average, with a 92% chance of breaking the global temperature record of 2023.
Critics dismissed this heating upheaval as mere natural variability, part of a slow-warming trend, and claimed we were safer than ever from climate threats. Others went further, blaming the eruption for the scorching global heatwave, and accusing climate alarmists of using it to perpetuate the myth of an overheated planet.
The scientific community has since re-evaluated. Studies have corrected themselves, debunking earlier claims and highlighting the…
