This year is “virtually certain to be the warmest year on record”, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
Its latest research suggests last month was the warmest October on record globally, with an average surface air temperature of “15.30°C which was 0.85°C above the 1991-2020 average for October and 0.40°C above the previous warmest October, in 2019”.
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, added: “October 2023 has seen exceptional temperature anomalies, following on from four months of global temperature records being obliterated.
“We can say with near certainty that 2023 will be the warmest year on record, and is currently 1.43ºC above the preindustrial average.
“The sense of urgency for ambitious climate action going into COP28 has never been higher.”
The organisation also warned that the global temperature “anomaly” for October 2023 was the second highest across all months in the ERA5 dataset – which uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world – behind September 2023.
According to the latest monthly climate bulletin published today (Wednesday, November 8) by the Copernicus Climate Change Service over the period January to October, the global mean temperature for 2023 was the highest on record, 1.43°C above the 1850-1900 pre-industrial average.
This is also 0.10°C higher than the ten-month average for 2016, which is currently the warmest calendar year on record.
Another key development identified in the latest climate bulletin was that precipitation was “above average across most of Europe” in October 2023.
It highlighted that Storm Babet hit northern Europe, and storm Aline impacted Portugal and Spain, “bringing heavy precipitation and flooding”.
Many Irish farmers are still battling the impact of severe flooding, the Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) has warned that the 2023 potato harvest is likely to be the “worst in recent memory”.
The IFA’s National Potato Committee chair, Seán Ryan, said that for many growers this year’s harvest is “rapidly turning into a salvage operation” because potato drills are submerged due to recent flooding.