2023 Will Almost Certainly Be the Hottest Year on Record, According to Red Hot October

At 1.7 degrees Celsius (3.1 degrees Fahrenheit) above the pre-industrial norm for the month, this October was the hottest on record worldwide. It was also the fifth consecutive month with such a mark in what is now almost surely going to be the warmest year on record.

Even Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, a European climate agency that regularly publishes monthly bulletins observing global surface air and sea temperatures, among other data, was taken aback by October’s staggering 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the previous record for the month in 2019.

“It’s astounding how much we’re breaking records,” Burgess remarked.

According to Copernicus, 2023 will be the warmest year on record as a result of the recent warming that has occurred cumulatively.

Scientists keep an eye on climate variables to learn more about how human-caused greenhouse gas emissions are changing our globe. According to Peter Schlosser, vice president and vice provost of Arizona State University’s Global Futures Laboratory, a warmer world will result in more catastrophic and intense weather phenomena like severe droughts or hurricanes that contain more water. He has no connection to Copernicus.

Schlosser stated, “This is a clear indication that we are entering a climate regime that will have more impact on more people.” “We had better heed this warning, which we ought to have done at least half a century ago, and make the appropriate decisions.”

The reason for this year’s extreme heat is partly due to the seas’ increasing warmth, which implies that they are not absorbing as much heat as they formerly did. According to Burgess, historically, the ocean has absorbed up to 90% of the excess heat caused by climate change. Furthermore, additional warming can be anticipated in the upcoming months as we are currently experiencing an El Nino, a natural climate cycle that momentarily warms portions of the ocean and causes weather variations globally.

According to Schlosser, this implies that as a result of global warming, more records should be broken; the question is whether they will happen gradually over time. He also said that the earth has not yet seen the full effects of the warming, and that it is already warming at a rate faster than the 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) that the Paris Agreement was intended to limit. He, Burgess, and other scientists assert that it is now imperative that action be taken to halt emissions that are warming the world.

“The cost of continuing to burn these fossil fuels is far more than the cost of quitting. That’s essentially what it demonstrates, according to Imperial College London climate expert Friederike Otto.