2023 looks set to be the warmest year on record according to the latest data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
Copernicus is a component of the European Union’s space programme, with funding by the EU, and is its flagship earth observation programme,
C3S routinely publishes monthly climate bulletins reporting on the changes observed in global surface air and sea temperatures, sea ice cover and hydrological variables.
All the reported findings are based on computer-generated analyses using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.
Warmest year on record
The latest data shows that November 2023 was the warmest November on record globally, with an average surface air temperature of 14.22°C, 0.85°C above the 1991-2020 average for November, and 0.32°C above the temperature of the previous warmest November, in 2020.
November 2023 was about 1.75°C warmer than an estimate of the November average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period.
For the calendar year-to-date, the global mean temperature for 2023 is the highest on record, 1.46°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average, and 0.13°C higher than the 11-month average for 2016, currently the warmest calendar year on record.
According to C3S, the boreal autumn September–November 2023 was the warmest on record globally by a large margin, with an average temperature of 15.3°C, which is 0.88°C above average.
The European-average temperature for September–November 2023 was 10.96°C, which is 1.43°C above average.
This made the boreal autumn 2023 the second warmest on record, just 0.03°C cooler than autumn 2020.
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service said: “2023 has now had six record-breaking months and two record-breaking seasons.
“The extraordinary global November temperatures, including two days warmer than 2°C above pre-industrial, mean that 2023 is the warmest year in recorded history.”
C3S director, Carlo Buontempo added: “As long as greenhouse gas concentrations keep rising, we can’t expect different outcomes from those seen this year.
“The temperature will keep rising and so will the impacts of heatwaves and droughts. Reaching net zero as soon as possible is an effective way to manage our climate risks.”
Hydrology
In November 2023, it was wetter than average across most of Europe; Storm Ciarán impacted many regions, including Italy, bringing heavy precipitation and floods.
Drier-than-average conditions established in several regions of the US, and of central and eastern Asia, as well as over most of the extra-tropical southern hemisphere, particularly pronounced in South America.
Boreal autumn 2023 saw precipitation above average over a large band across Europe, as well as over the UK and Ireland, most of Scandinavia and Turkey.
During the season, several storms triggered widespread rainfall and floods locally.
In the period September to November 2023, it was drier than average over much of North America, over central and eastern Asia as well as over most of Australia, South America and southern Africa.
Extra-tropical wetter-than-average regions included north-west of the Caspian Sea and parts of Russia, eastern China, southern Brazil, Chile as well as the Horn of Africa.
