BRUSSELS — This year is on track to become the hottest year on record, with the global mean temperature to date this year 0.52°C higher than average, the European Union\u0027s Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Thursday (Oct 5).
BRUSSELS — This year is on track to become the hottest year on record, with the global mean temperature to date this year 0.52°C higher than average, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Thursday .Gabriel Flores and Isabel Apaza walk on the dry, cracked bed near the shore of Lake Titicaca in drought season in Huarina, Bolivia on Aug 3, 2023.
Last month was the warmest September on record globally, with 0.93°C above the average temperature for the same month in 1991 to 2020, and the global temperature of the month was the most atypical warm month of any year in the ERA5 dataset, which dates back to 1940. "The unprecedented temperatures for the time of year observed in September — following a record summer — have broken records by an extraordinary amount. This extreme month has pushed 2023 into the dubious honour of first place — on track to be the warmest year and around 1.4°C above preindustrial average temperatures”, Dr Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of Copernicus, said in a statement.
Last year was not a record, though the world was 1.2°C warmer than pre-industrial times. The previous record belonged to 2016 and 2020 when temperatures were an average of 1.25°C higher.