The year 2023 is officially the warmest on record—overtaking 2016, the previous warmest year, by an alarming margin. According to the latest data from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, released Jan. 9, Earth was 1.48 degrees Celsius (2.66 Fahrenheit) hotter last year compared with pre-industrial levels—dangerously close to the 1.5-degree threshold set by the Paris climate deal. 2023 also marked the first year in which each day was over one degree warmer than the pre-industrial average. Temperatures over 2023 likely exceeded those of any year over the past 100,000 years, the report found. This was partially due to the year’s El Niño climate phenomenon, but those impacts only began in June—and every subsequent month last year was the warmest on record for that particular month. September represented the largest climatological departure since record-keeping began over 170 years ago.
Extremely anomalous ocean heat content was also recorded last year. Normally, maximum ocean temperature is in March, at the end of the southern hemisphere summer. Instead, last year saw continued warming of the ocean surface from April right through to year’s end, with record temperatures for all of those months. (PRI, PBS NewsHour, EuroNews, The Hill)
Image: blende12/Pixabay
Dire climate anomalies from Chile to Mongolia
Impacts of last year’s “super” El Niño event, with unusually high temperatures in the Pacific Ocean, are still being felt. One of the consequences has been less rain in South America, drying out the land which recently ignited into massive wildfires. Chile has been one of the worst-affected countries, where the blazes left over 130 people dead and hundreds missing. The UN has called for increased global investment in fire prevention.
Meanwhile in Mongolia, a phenomenon of summer drought followed by bitter winter conditions—known as a dzud—has affected almost 300,000 families, with many losing their livestock, and warnings of worse to come as temperatures hover at record lows and pastures remain impossible to graze. (TNH)
Air quality in parts of West Africa has suddenly worsened
November to March in West Africa is the harmattan season, which typically brings dry weather and high winds to the region. The dust that blows in from the Sahara this year contains dangerous particulate matter. As a result, Accra, the capital of Ghana, now has some of the poorest air quality in the world. This appears related to regional aridification and expansion of the desert. (PRI)
Dire climate anomalies in Central, South America
Multiple forest fires have consumed 1,900 hectares of land across Guatemala, according to emergency response agency CONRED. The dry season, exacerbated by El Niño, has deeply affected conditions in the Central American region.
Peru’s government has meanwhile declared a health emergency in 20 regions as cases of dengue fever keep rising due to El Niño-related high temperatures and heavy rainfalls. In the past two months, the vector-borne virus has already killed 32 people—more than in all of 2023. (TNH)
Texas: largest wildfires in state history
Local aid organizations are working to assist families in the US state of Texas after wildfires, including the largest in its history, burnt through nearly 1.3 million acres in the northern panhandle region, killing at least two people and forcing thousands from their homes. (TNH)
Record cold kills Mongolian herds
Mongolia’s nomadic herders are facing a savage dzud winter, after an estimated 5 million livestock have frozen to death. Scientists say this lethal phenomenon—extreme cold and heavy snow following a summer drought—is occurring more frequently and is linked to climate change. (PRI)
Tenth consecutive monthly heat record
Global surface temperatures in March were 0.1 C higher than the previous record for the month, set in 2016, and 1.68C higher than the pre-industrial average, according to data released April 9 by the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
This is the 10th consecutive monthly record in a warming phase that has shattered all previous records. Over the past 12 months, average global temperatures have been 1.58 C above pre-industrial levels. (The Guardian)