The average temperature in Europe from September to November this year is the highest on record, according to new data.
During that time period in Europe, it was 1.9° above the 1981 to 2010 norm and 0.4° higher than the average temperature for 2006, which was the previous warmest autumn.
Last month alone was the joint-second warmest November on record for Europe, according to the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service.
It was 2.2° above the 1981 to 2010 average and 0.2° below the temperature for November 2015. The month was similar to the temperature for November 2009.
Norway had its joint warmest November in a data series reaching back to 1900. Sweden and Finland also saw records broken. Conditions were close to or a little cooler than average only in parts of the south-east of the continent.
Globally, last month was the warmest November on record “by a clear margin”.
Temperatures were most above the 1981 to 2010 average over a large region covering much of northern Europe, Siberia and the Arctic Ocean, while temperatures were most below average over central Asia and West Antarctica.
Heatwaves were experienced in parts of Australia during November 2020 and the month was the warmest November on record for the country as a whole.
Heatwaves were also reported in Malawi and Mozambique, and it was generally warmer than average over much of southern, central and western Africa.
