The unusually high global average temperature for the month was the hottest of any September dating back to 1940. File Photo by John Angelillo/UPI | License Photo
Earth experienced the warmest September in recorded history in 2023, with average surface air temperatures soaring to unprecedented levels, which in turn led to an increase in extreme weather events, according to new climate data from the European Union.
Surface air temperatures for the month averaged about 61.45 degrees across the entire planet, toppling a previous heat record set in September 2020, according to a monthly bulletin from the Copernicus Climate Change Service, which tracks global weather for the EU. Advertisement
The unusually high global average temperature for the month was the hottest of any September dating back to 1940, and was warmer than any other recorded average dating back to 1850, the agency said.
“The unprecedented temperatures for the time of year observed in September — following a record summer — have broken records by an extraordinary amount,” said Copernicus Deputy Director Samantha Burgess. “This extreme month has pushed 2023 into the dubious honor of first place — on track to be the warmest year and around 1.4 degrees Celcius above preindustrial average temperatures.”
The report also blames the heat wave for triggering monsoon conditions along many parts of western Europe, including the Iberian Peninsula, Ireland, northern Britain, and Scandinavia, while extreme temperatures were a likely factor in unprecedented flooding in Libya last month that killed nearly 4,000 people. Advertisement
Copernicus released a similar analysis last month showing the planet experienced the hottest three-month period in its history over the summer, with July 2023 going down as the hottest month on record, followed by the warmest August ever documented.
Both months followed a record-setting June that kicked off the extraordinary summer heat wave.
Climate officials acknowledged a growing “sense of urgency” to address global warming as world leaders were preparing to appraise damage from the climate crisis at the COP28 summit in Dubai in late November.
The ongoing scorcher, attributed to climate change, has broken numerous temperature records during the first 9 months of 2023, all of which averaged at least 0.05 degrees Celsius hotter than 2016, when a powerful El Niño lathered the globe in sweltering heat.
Conditions were ripe for another El Niño event to develop this year over the equatorial eastern Pacific, potentially extending the sauna into late fall and the start of winter, the agency said.
Copernicus also called attention to the continued melting of Antarctic sea ice, with glacier extents currently measuring about 18% below the seasonal average, a record low for this time of year.
