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The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has warned that 2024 might be even hotter than 2023. This is because the El Niño event often affects global temperatures the most after it peaks.
The WMO has officially stated that 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded, by a significant amount. The average global temperature for the year was close to 1.5° Celsius above the levels before the industrial era. This is important because the Paris Agreement on climate change aims to keep the long-term temperature rise (measured over decades, not just one year like 2023) to no more than 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
The WMO used six international data sets to track global temperatures. They showed that the average global temperature in 2023 was 1.45 +/- 0.12 °C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900). Every month from June to December in 2023 set new records for global temperatures. July and August were the two hottest months ever recorded.
"By mid-2023, we see the transition from the cooling of La Niña to the warming of El Niño (oscillations with a global impact on the surface temperature of the equatorial Pacific Ocean) reflected in the increase in temperature compared to last year. Since El Niño typically makes the biggest impact on global temperatures after it peaks, we could see 2024 becoming even hotter," WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo said.
Accelerate the transition to renewable energy
"He said, 'Climate change poses the biggest challenge to humanity. It affects us all, particularly the most vulnerable. We cannot afford any further delays. Though we have already begun taking action, we must do more and do it quickly. We must drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions and quickly transition to renewable energy sources.'"
Each decade since the 1980s has warmed up more than the preceding one. The records show the last nine years as the warmest. Previously, the records ranked the years 2016 (strong El Niño) and 2020 as the warmest, recording 1.29 +/- 0.12°C and 1.27 +/- 0.12°C, respectively, above the pre-industrial era temperatures.
Based on the six data sets, the ten-year average 2014-2023 was 1.20 +/- 0.12 °C above the 1850-1900 average, allowing for a margin of uncertainty.
"Humanity is burning the earth through their actions. 2023 provided merely a glimpse of the catastrophic future waiting for us if we don't take action now. We need to employ innovative measures in response to record temperature increases," said UN Secretary-General António Guterres."
Extensive monitoring network
The WMO consolidated figures draw on six international data sets to provide an authoritative assessment of temperature. 2023 was ranked as the warmest year in all six data sets.
The United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (NASA GISS), the Met Office Hadley Center of the United Kingdom, the Climate Research Unit of the University of East Anglia (HadCRUT), and the Berkeley Earth Group are developing and maintaining data sets based on climatological data from observing sites, ships, and buoys in global marine networks that the WMO is using.
The WMO also obtains reanalysis data sets from the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and its Copernicus Climate Change Service, and the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). A meteorological model combines millions of meteorological and marine observations, including those from satellites, to produce a complete reanalysis of the atmosphere.
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