Current:Home > InvestScientists say November is 6th straight month to set heat record; 2023 a cinch as hottest year-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
Scientists say November is 6th straight month to set heat record; 2023 a cinch as hottest year
View Date:2024-12-23 16:42:11
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — For the sixth month in a row, Earth set a new monthly record for heat, and also added the hottest autumn to the litany of record-breaking heat this year, the European climate agency calculated.
And with only one month left, 2023 is on the way to smashing the record for hottest year.
November was nearly a third of a degree Celsius (0.57 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than the previous hottest November, the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Climate Change Service announced early Wednesday. November was 1.75 degrees Celsius (3.15 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, tying October and behind September, for the hottest above average for any month, the scientists said.
“The last half year has truly been shocking,” said Copernicus Deputy Director Samantha Burgess. “Scientists are running out of adjectives to describe this.’’
November averaged 14.22 degrees Celsius (57.6 degrees Fahrenheit), which is 0.85 degrees Celsius (1.5 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the average the last 30 years. Two days during the month were 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, something that hadn’t happened before, according to Burgess.
So far this year is 1.46 degrees Celsius (2.6 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than pre-industrial times, about a seventh of a degree warmer than the previous warmest year of 2016, Copernicus scientists calculated. That’s very close to the international threshold the world set for climate change.
The 2015 Paris climate agreement set a goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times over the long term and failing that at least 2 degrees (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit). Diplomats, scientists, activists and others meeting at the United Nations climate conference in Dubai for nearly two weeks are trying to find ways to limit warming to those levels, but the planet isn’t cooperating.
Scientists calculate with the promises countries around the world have made and the actions they have taken, Earth is on track to warm 2.7 to 2.9 degrees Celsius (4.9 to 5.2 degrees) above pre-industrial times.
The northern autumn is also the hottest fall the world has had on record, Copernicus calculated.
Copernicus records go back to 1940. United States government calculated records go back to 1850. Scientists using proxies such as ice cores, tree rings and corals have said this is the warmest decade Earth has seen in about 125,000 years, dating back before human civilization. And the last several months have been the hottest of the last decade.
Scientists say there are two driving forces behind the six straight record hottest months in a row. One is human-caused climate change from the burning of coal, oil and gas. That’s like an escalator. But the natural El Nino-La Nina cycle is like jumping up or down on that escalator.
The world is in a potent El Nino, which is a temporary warming of parts of the central Pacific that changes weather worldwide, and that adds to global temperatures already spiked by climate change.
It’s only going to get warmer as long as the world keeps pouring greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, Burgess said. And she said that means “catastrophic floods, fires, heat waves, droughts will continue.’’
“2023 is very likely to be a cool year in the future unless we do something about our dependence on fossil fuels,” Burgess said.
__
Read more of AP’s climate coverage at http://www.apnews.com/climate-and-environment.
___
Follow Seth Borenstein on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @borenbears
___
Associated Press climate and environmental coverage receives support from several private foundations. See more about AP’s climate initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
veryGood! (54132)
Related
- Just Eat Takeaway sells Grubhub for $650 million, just 3 years after buying the app for $7.3 billion
- Some Yankee Stadium bleachers fans chant `U-S-A!’ during `O Canada’ before game against Blue Jays
- Olympic Athletes' Surprising Day Jobs, From Birthday Party Clown to Engineer
- Analysis: Simone Biles’ greatest power might be the toughness that’s been there all along
- Jon Gruden joins Barstool Sports three years after email scandal with NFL
- Thistle & Nightshade bookstore pushes 'the boundaries of traditional representation'
- Trinity Rodman plays the hero in USWNT victory over Japan — even if she doesn't remember
- Olympic medals today: What is the medal count at 2024 Paris Games on August 3?
- Police cruiser strikes and kills a bicyclist pulling a trailer in Vermont
- Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov live updates: How to watch, predictions, analysis
Ranking
- GreenBox Systems will spend $144 million to build an automated warehouse in Georgia
- When does Simone Biles compete next? Olympics gymnastics schedule for vault final
- There's good reason to root for the South Koreans to medal in Olympic men's golf
- Olympic gymnastics highlights: Simone Biles wins gold in vault final at Paris Olympics
- Tua Tagovailoa tackle: Dolphins QB laughs off taking knee to head vs. Rams on 'MNF'
- Terence Crawford vs. Israil Madrimov live updates: How to watch, predictions, analysis
- Noah Lyles gets second in a surprising 100m opening heat at Olympics
- Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony: Class of 2024, How to watch and stream, date, time
Recommendation
-
Mississippi rising, Georgia falling in college football NCAA Re-Rank 1-134 after Week 11
-
Steve McMichael, battling ALS, inducted into Hall of Fame in ceremony from home
-
Navy football's Chreign LaFond learns his sister, Thea, won 2024 Paris Olympics gold medal: Watch
-
'We made mistakes': Houston police contacting rape victims in over 4,000 shelved cases
-
Brush fire erupts in Brooklyn's iconic Prospect Park amid prolonged drought
-
UAW leader says Trump would send the labor movement into reverse if he’s elected again
-
Kentucky football, swimming programs committed NCAA rules violations
-
Kobe Bryant and Daughter Gianna Honored With Moving Girl Dad Statue