This year will be the hottest on record after an “extraordinary” November, the sixth consecutive record-breaking month, the European agency Copernicus said on Wednesday, at a time marked by climate negotiations at COP28.
With a global average temperature of 14.22°C, the month was 0.32°C warmer than the previous record set in November 2020.
November 2023 was also 1.75°C warmer than the November average for the period 1850-1900, which corresponds to the pre-industrial era.
The Boreal autumn (September to November in the Northern Hemisphere) is thus the hottest on record, at 15.30°C, i.e. “a wide margin” of 0.88°C above average.
“2023 now has six record months and two record seasons. This extraordinary month of November, which includes two days with temperatures two degrees above pre-industrial levels, means that 2023 will be the hottest year ever recorded in history,” said the Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service ( C3S), Samantha Burgess, in a statement.
Since January, the average temperature in the first eleven months of the year has been the warmest on record: 1.46°C above the climate average for the period 1850-1900 and 0.13°C above the first eleven months of 2016. date.
“As long as greenhouse gas concentrations continue to rise, we should not expect any different results than this year. Temperatures will continue to rise, as will the effects of heat waves and droughts,” warned C3S director Carlo Buontempo. in the statement.
The cyclical climate phenomenon El Nino over the Pacific Ocean will continue to increase temperatures in 2023, but has not yet reached its peak.
In November 2023, the ocean surface temperature was also the hottest for this time of year, 0.25°C higher than the previous peak in November 2015. This new heat record joins the other maximums recorded every month since April.
The extent of the Arctic ice pack, in the north, recorded its eighth monthly minimum for November, 4% below average. Antarctica recorded the second lowest level for the month of November, 9% below average, according to Copernicus.
Drought conditions persisted last month in several regions of the United States, Central and East Asia, and were particularly pronounced in South America.
Source: DN
