(VOVWORLD) -Europe’s climate monitor, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), on Wednesday announced that 2023 may be the hottest year on record, after November became the sixth record-breaking month in a row for average temperatures.
 Extreme heat in the border area between Peru and Bolivia on August 10, 2023 (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
This year’s “extraordinary” November smashed the previous November heat record, pushing 2023’s global average temperature to 1.46C warmer than pre-industrial levels, C3S said. The extraordinary global November temperatures, including two days warmer than 2C above pre-industrial (levels), mean that 2023 is the warmest year in recorded history, it added.
The temperature for the January-November period was also 0.13C higher than the average for the same period in 2016, currently the warmest calendar year on record. The temperature increase in the second half of this year is in part due to the El Nino phenomenon. Scientists said data from ice cores, tree rings and the like suggests this year could be the warmest in more than 100,000 years.
The announcement by C3S came as negotiators from nearly 200 countries at the COP28 talks in Dubai debate the text of a final draft agreement that responds to a damning stocktake of progress on limiting warming. A new version of the draft text is expected on Wednesday, that will then be sifted through at the talks, which are due to end on December 12.