Scientists from the European Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) are ready to say that 2024 is going to be the hottest year our planet has experienced since records began. This is both surprising and concerning. Surprising because these records are usually awarded after the period has ended. Concerning because even without including data from December, the rest of 2024 has been so record-breaking that the data is already painting that obvious conclusion.
The claim is part of the C3S update for November. November 2024 was the second-warmest November on record. The only one hotter has been November 2023. Last month had an average global surface air temperature of 14.10°C (57.38 °F). That is an enormous 1.62°C (2.9 °F) over pre-industrial level.
The data from C3S claims (but they put the caveat that other data samples might be slightly different) that 16 out of the last 17 months have exceeded the 1.5°C (2.7 °F) above pre-industrial levels limit which is the goal of the Paris Agreement. That threshold has not been crossed for good, but the consistently high temperatures of the last two years are a clear warning sign to act.
“With Copernicus data in from the penultimate month of the year, we can now confirm with virtual certainty that 2024 will be the warmest year on record and the first calendar year above 1.5°C. This does not mean that the Paris Agreement has been breached, but it does mean ambitious climate action is more urgent than ever,” Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), said in a statement.
Temperature anomalies this year compared to the past several.
Arctic sea ice had its third lowest extent for November, staying 9 percent below average. Concerning as we are going towards winter in the Northern hemisphere. On the other side of the world, things are not much better. The Antarctic sea ice that surrounds the southernmost continent was 10 percent below average the lowest-ever extent for November surpassing the previous record holder of 2016 and 2023.
Most of the land and seas saw higher temperatures but there are some exceptions. The Balkans, Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Canada, and Western United States mostly saw lower-than-average temperatures. So did Antarctica despite the plunging sea ice value. Considering notoriously cold areas, the Alps and the Himalayas were hotter than average. Iceland had mixed conditions but it set the record for the warmest November night above 60° latitude with 22.9°C (73.22 °F).
Source Link: 2024 "Effectively Certain” To Be The Hottest Year On Record
