A fireman runs from blazes as he tries to control a wildfire near Athens, Greece, on July 19, 2023, the hottest month on record (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)
Scientists have confirmed that 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded, sending previous records ‘tumbling like dominoes’.
The average temperature was 14.98C, an ‘extraordinary’ figure which beats the previous hottest year set in 2016 by 0.17C, according to the EU’s climate change service Copernicus.
But Met Office scientists believe this record could be short-lived. Their forecasts suggest 2024 could be even hotter, and may rise more than 1.5C above the period between 1850-1900.
Last year came close to breaching this boundary – 1.48C above – smashing a series of records in the process.
Countries committed in the Paris Agreement to try and limit warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, as it gives the best chance of stabilising the climate and reducing damage to people and wildlife.
This measurement is taken as a decade average, so one year going beyond this does not mean the treaty has failed.
Scientists fear 2024 could be even hotter than the ‘extraordinary’ temperatures of 2023 (PA)
July 2023 is believed to have been the hottest month in the last 120,000 years – almost as long as modern humans have existed. Meanwhile, Antarctic sea ice has been at an historic low.
Each month from June through to December was hotter than any other corresponding month in a previous year, while every continent except Australia and many ocean areas saw record-breaking annual air temperatures for the year.
El Nino, a cyclical natural phenomenon in the tropical eastern Pacific which brings heat to the surface, added an extra warming effect to the atmosphere and oceans to that from greenhouse gas emissions, which continue to rise.
Scientists are now urging world leaders to radically cut these emissions and prevent further warming, as each fraction of a degree further destabilises the Earth’s climate.
A future of rising temperatures
Although changes of 1.5C in air temperature are nearly impossible to notice in our day to day lives, on a global average it has a very different meaning – even the smallest changes can have dire consequences.
Climate analysts have compared it to changes in body temperature, where a difference of 1C can separate a healthy person from one with a fever.
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said: ‘2023 was an exceptional year with climate records tumbling like dominoes.
‘Not only is 2023 the warmest year on record, it is also the first year with all days over 1C warmer than the pre-industrial period.
‘Temperatures during 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years.’
Emissions from wildfires also increased by 30% last year, mainly because of deadly infernos across Canada and the US.
A wildfire advances near the eastern town of Palma de Gandia in Valencia, Spain, Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, sparking mass evacuations (Picture: AP)
There were marine heatwaves across much of the North Atlantic, including off the British and Irish coastlines, as well as in the Caribbean and the Indian and Pacific Oceans.
Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose to a new height of 419 parts per million while methane reached a concentration of 1902 parts per billion.
Met Office climate scientist Dr Nick Dunstone said: ‘The extraordinary global heat through 2023 made it possible to signal it would be the hottest year on record well before the year had finished. This level of warming is in line with climate projections.
‘We expect the strong El Nino in the Pacific to impact the global temperature through 2024.
‘For this reason we are forecasting 2024 to be another record breaking year, with the possibility of temporarily exceeding 1.5C for the first time.’
But even this record could be short-lived.