Last month was the hottest November on record as Europe basked in its highest Autumn temperatures in history, the European Union’s satellite monitoring service said Monday.
November was close to 0.8° Celsius above the average temperature between 1981 to 2010, and 0.1°C above the previous warmest Novembers in 2016 and 2019, according to a monthly report by Europe’s Earth observation agency, Copernicus.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) analysis of surface and air temperatures found that November 2020 was 0.8C (1.44 Fahrenheit) warmer than the 30-year average of 1981-2010 – more than 0.1C hotter than the previous record.
For boreal autumn (September-November) temperatures in Europe were 1.9C above the standard reference period, 0.4C (0.7 Fahrenheit) higher than the average temperature in 2006, which was the previous warmest.
Temperatures were most above average in Northern Europe, Siberia, and the Arctic.
“These records are consistent with the long-term warming trend of the global climate,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. “All policy-makers who prioritize mitigating climate risks should see these records as alarm bells.”
“All policymakers who prioritise mitigating climate risks should see these records as alarm bells and consider more seriously than ever how to best comply with the international commitments set out in the 2015 Paris Agreement”.
This past November was the hottest ever recorded, another global temperature milestone in a year that’s one step closer to surpassing 2016 as the warmest on record.Global temperatures from January to October were already 1.2ºC above pre-industrial levels, according to the World Meteorological Organization. No matter what happens over the rest of the year, this decade will be the hottest on record, with the warmest six years all happening since 2015.
The landmark deal, which turns five this month, enjoins nations to limit temperature rises to “well below” 2C (3.6 Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels.
Last week, the World Meteorological Organization said 2020 was on course to be among the three hottest years ever recorded.
C3S said that with just one month left to go, 2020 is on par to match 2016, the current record-holder.
With just over 1C (1.8 Fahrenheit) of warming so far, Earth is already dealing with the devastation caused by more frequent and stronger extreme weather events such as wildfires and tropical storms.
Satellite images analysed by C3S also showed that Arctic sea ice extent was the second-lowest for November in the database, which began in 1979.
The largest negative sea ice concentration anomalies were in the Kara Sea, while there was below-average cover in the eastern Canadian Archipelago and Baffin Bay.
“This trend is concerning and highlights the importance of comprehensive monitoring of the Arctic, as it is warming faster than the rest of the world,” said Buontempo.
Temperatures were substantially higher than normal across the Arctic and much of Siberia last month, and higher than average across the United States, South America, southern Africa, eastern Antarctica and most of Australia, C3S said.
The five hottest years in history have all been recorded since 2015.