Scientists at Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service on Wednesday said that 2023 is set to be the warmest year on record as October became the hottest October globally.
This comes after the year recorded the hottest June, July and September months globally. During the first and third weeks of July, global mean temperature temporarily exceeded the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold above the pre-industrial level. This means that the weeks were hotter than the planet was before it was warmed by burning coal, oil and gas and other human activities.
According to the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, crossing the global average temperature beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius could unleash severe climate change impacts, including more frequent and severe droughts, heatwaves and rainfall.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service, implemented by the European Commission, publishes monthly climate bulletins on the changes observed in global surface air and sea temperatures, sea ice cover and hydrological variables.
In its latest bulletin released on Wednesday, the scientists said that October 2023 was 1.7 degrees Celsius warmer than an estimate of the month’s average for the pre-industrial 1850-1900 period.
The month also recorded an average surface air temperature of 15.30 degrees Celsius, 0.85 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average for October. The average temperature was also 0.40 degrees Celsius above…
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