New data strongly indicates that 2023 is on track to become the warmest year ever recorded, characterized by a series of deadly heatwaves, floods, and fires. This prediction comes in the wake of an October marked by “exceptional” high temperatures, according to data from the European Union’s climate change service.
In October, global average air temperatures were 0.4 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous record set in October 2019. The ongoing trend of record warmth, driven primarily by carbon emissions and an El Niño weather event, has continued for five consecutive months.
Researchers believe that the trend of extreme global temperatures will persist into 2024. The conclusion that 2023 will be the warmest year on record has become nearly unavoidable, as the final two months of the year are highly unlikely to reverse this trajectory. Furthermore, high temperatures have continued into November, further contributing to the data.
October’s temperature record adds to a list of global heat records for the year. The number of days surpassing the politically significant 1.5 degrees Celsius warming threshold has already reached unprecedented levels, well before the year’s end.
July’s temperatures were so high that it may have been the hottest month in the past 120,000 years, while average temperatures in September shattered the previous record by an astonishing 0.5 degrees Celsius.
Although October was not as unusually hot as September, it still set a new record for the month by an “exceptional” margin, as reported by the Copernicus Climate Change Service. The month’s temperatures were 1.7 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average, signifying the period before significant fossil fuel burning by humans began.