‘Off the charts’: 2023 was hottest year ever recorded globally, US scientists confirm

A child looks at a wildfire in Chasia on the outskirts of Athens, Greece, on 22 August 2023. Photograph: Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP via Getty Images

Last year was the hottest ever reliably recorded globally by a blistering margin, US scientists have confirmed, leaving researchers struggling to account for the severity of the heat and what it portends for the unfolding climate crisis.

Last year was the world’s hottest in records that stretch back to 1850, according to analyses released concurrently by Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) on Friday, with a record high in ocean temperatures and a new low in Antarctic sea ice extent.