Record October heat indicates 2023 will be warmest year in history

This year is on track to be the hottest ever after Europe's climate monitor on Wednesday confirmed October as the fifth month in a row to have recorded the warmest temperatures globally.

People enjoy the sunny weather in Place des Vosges, in Paris, on 8 October, 2023. AFP - DIMITAR DILKOFF

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said October was 1.7 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial average for the month, and a whopping 0.4 degrees warmer than the previous record for the month – which was back in 2019.

After the cumulative warming of these past several months, it’s virtually guaranteed that 2023 will be the hottest year on record.

"October 2023 has seen exceptional temperature anomalies, following on from four months of global temperature records being obliterated," said C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess.

She said the sense of urgency for ambitious action going into the upcoming Cop28 climate summit had "never been higher".

Records 'smashed'

Drought parched parts of the US and Mexico during October, while huge swathes of the planet saw wetter than normal conditions often linked to storms and cyclones.

Sea surface temperatures were the highest ever recorded for the month, a phenomenon driven by global warming that scientists say plays a key role in driving storms to be more ferocious and destructive. 

“The amount that we’re smashing records by is shocking,” Burgess said.

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The ocean has absorbed as much as 90 percent of the heat generated by climate change, and the current El Nino event – which temporarily warms parts of the ocean and drives weather changes around the world – is expected to bring even more warming in the months to come.

Global average temperatures since January have been the highest in records going back to 1940, the monitor added, registering 1.43C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average. 

Beyond these official records, scientists say proxy data for the climate going back further – like tree rings or ice cores – suggests the temperatures seen this year could be unprecedented in human history, potentially the warmest in more than 100,000 years.    

(with AFP)