Dec. 6 (UPI) — November 2023 was the warmest on record, with 2023 highly likely to be the hottest year ever, according to the latest bulletin from Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service out Wednesday.
The global temperature anomaly for November beat the previous November record set in 2020 by a third of a degree Celsius, matched October 2023 and was only 0.08 degrees lower than September’s 0.93 degrees temperature anomaly, C3S said in a news release.
November 2023 saw an average global surface air temperature of 14.22 degrees Celsius, almost 1 degree above the 1991-2020 average and was about 1.75 degrees Celsius warmer than the average November in the benchmark pre-industrial era, determined by Copernicus as 1850-1900.
The global mean temperature for the 11 months of 2023 so far is the highest on record at 0.13 degrees above the 11-month average for the hottest-ever full year in 2016 and 1.46 degrees above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.
The temperature of the oceans, boreal sub-arctic regions and the European continent also broke records — but November sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctic fared better extending only 4% and 9% less than average.
Developing El Nino conditions in the equatorial Pacific helped push November average sea surface temperatures to a new record 0.25 degrees Celsius warmer than the previous warmest November, in 2015, despite anomalies remaining weaker than those during record El Nino years of 1997 and 2015.
The Copernicus scientists said the six record-breaking months and two record-breaking seasons recorded in 2023 were a wake-up call to rein in climate-warming emissions without delay.
“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 heat waves and droughts. Reaching net zero as soon as possible is an effective way to manage our climate risks,” said C3S Director Carlo Buontempo.
The report comes as the COP23 climate summit is underway in Dubai with more than 70,000 delegates from nearly 200 nations at the close of a year of scorching heat waves and extreme weather.
The meeting opened Thursday with an early breakthrough establishing a climate disaster fund for poorer countries hardest hit by weather events such as flooding, drought and extreme heat.
Pledging $100 million from his country to kick start the fund, COP28 president, UAE Sultan Al Jaber said the agreement was “the first time a decision has been adopted on day one of any COP.”
