New Delhi: Last month this year saw record temperatures by an "extraordinary" margin making it the warmest September in the world, according to data from the European Union’s (EU) Copernicus Climate Change Service. According to the data, apart from the scorching temperatures making it the hottest September ever recorded, the unprecedented heat is set to make 2023 the hottest year on record.
According to the report, September recorded average surface air temperature of 16.38 degrees Celsius, which was 0.93 C above the 1991-2020 average for the month, and 0.5 C above the previous record in 2020.
"We've been through the most incredible September ever from a climate point of view. It's just beyond belief," Copernicus Climate Change Service director Carlo Buontempo told news agency AFP. "Climate change is not something that will happen 10 years from now. Climate change is here,” he added.
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According to deputy director Samantha Burgess, the September temperatures have "have broken records by an extraordinary amount".
Meanwhile, global average temperatures from January to September this year were 1.4 degrees Celsius higher than 1850-1900. It almost breached the 1.5C warming goal of the 2015 Paris Agreement, as per the report. Also, the January-September average temperature was 0.05C higher than the same period in 2016, the warmest year so far.
As per climate experts, the worst effects of El Nino are to be felt at the end of 2023 and into the next year. Although El Nino played a major role in the warming, "there's no doubt that climate change has made it much worse", Buontempo told AFP.
It is to be noted that the impact of the sweltering September has been disastrous. It led to devastating floods that claimed lives in Libya, Greece, Bulgaria, and Turkey. Canada grappled with unprecedented forest fires. South America experienced record-breaking heat, while New York was reported record rainfall.