Scientists have described their shock as global temperatures officially soared to a record margin in September - with one describing it as “absolutely gobsmackingly bananas”.
Last month’s average temperature was 0.93 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average for September, the warmest margin on record, the European climate agency said on Thursday.
While July and August had hotter raw temperatures because they are warmer months in general, September had what scientists call the biggest anomaly, or departure from normal.
It is the biggest departure from normal temperatures for the month in 83 years - the period of time the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Climate Change Service holds records for.
“It’s just mind-blowing really," said Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo. “Never seen anything like that in any month in our records."
Imperial College London climate scientist Friederike Otto added: “This is not a fancy weather statistic. It’s a death sentence for people and ecosystems. It destroys assets, infrastructure, harvest."
Meanwhile climate scientist Zeke Hausfather said on X, formerly Twitter: “This month was, in my professional opinion as a climate scientist - absolutely gobsmackingly bananas.”
Copernicus calculated that the average temperature for September was 16.38 degrees Celsius, which broke the old record set in September 2020 by a 0.5degC, a huge margin in climate records.
The record-breaking temperatures were largely driven by persistent and unusual warmth in the world’s oceans, which didn’t cool off as much in September as normal and have been record hot since spring, said Mr Buontempo.
Earth is on track for its hottest year on record, about 1.4degC warmer than pre-industrial times, according to Samantha Burgess, Copernicus’ deputy director.
The world agreed in 2015 to try to limit future warming to 1.5degC warming since pre-industrial times.
The global threshold goal of 1.5degC is for long-term temperature averages, not a single month or year, but scientists have still expressed grave concern at the latest record.
US climate scientist Jessica Moerman said Earth was seeing a “double whammy” of rapid global warming and the natural El Niño climate cycle, whereby parts of the Pacific Ocean that changes weather worldwide heat up.
Though El Niño is playing a part, climate change has a bigger footprint in this warmth, Mr Buontempo said, adding El Niño is likely to get warmer and cause even higher temperatures next year.
