Hottest year on recorded

A report from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Union revealing that last September was the hottest September ever recorded further strengthens the prediction that 2023 will be the hottest year on record.

Higher than the Average

The report found that global temperatures for January-September 2023 were 0.52 degrees Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the average. The temperatures during this period were also 0.05 degrees Celsius hotter compared to the first nine months of 2016, which was previously known as the hottest calendar year.

The average global temperature throughout this year was reported to be 1.40 degrees Celsius higher than the pre-industrial average between 1850 and 1900.

Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of C3S, stated that the report on global temperatures was published just two months before the COP28 Climate Summit in Dubai.

“The urgency for ambitious climate action is now more critical than ever,” she said.

Scientists have long stated that climate change caused by fossil fuel combustion has made extreme weather events such as heatwaves and storms more intense and frequent.

Hottest September

According to the C3S report, September 2023 was the hottest September ever recorded. The average surface air temperature for this month reached 16.38 degrees Celsius, or 0.93 degrees Celsius above the monthly average from 1991-2020.

The temperatures this month were also 0.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous record for the hottest September, which was in 2020. Back then, September temperatures were about 1.75 degrees Celsius warmer than the average for September in the pre-industrial period.

Burgess described September 2023 as an “extreme” month. She also noted that September 2023 is pushing 2023 further along the “path to becoming the hottest year with temperatures 1.4 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.”

‘Wetter Than Average’

In Europe, September 2023 was not only the hottest month ever recorded but also a month with conditions “wetter than average,” especially in many parts of the continent’s western coast, according to the C3S report.

The report cited extreme rainfall in Greece associated with Storm Daniel. The storm had previously caused major flooding in Libya, resulting in thousands of deaths and the destruction of much of the city of Derna in the eastern part of the country.

Conclusion

Other regions impacted by rainfall in Europe included the western Iberian Peninsula, Ireland, northern parts of the UK, and Scandinavia.

Outside of Europe, Latin American countries such as Brazil and Chile were also mentioned in the report as experiencing “extreme rainfall events,” especially in the southern regions of these countries.

C3S, funded by the European Union, stated that all findings in the report were based on computer analysis using measurement data from satellites, ships, aircraft, and weather stations worldwide.

 

By admin