The European climate agency Copernicus has reported that October’s temperatures were 0.4 degrees Celsius (0.7 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the previous record set in 2019, a fact that has even surprised climate scientists. With the oceans, historically the absorbers of 90% of excess heat, warming up, the planet is experiencing more severe weather events, and the urgency for action against climate change is more pressing than ever.
The article highlights the alarming trend of rising global temperatures, with October 2023 surpassing all previous records. Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, expresses shock at the rate at which these records are being broken. The cumulative effect of the past months’ warming makes it almost certain that 2023 will be the warmest year on record.
Scientists like Peter Schlosser of Arizona State University emphasize the dire consequences of this warming, such as more intense droughts and hurricanes. The ongoing El Niño event is expected to exacerbate this trend in the coming months. The article underscores the critical need for immediate action to curb planet-warming emissions and mitigate the impacts of climate change, as the costs of inaction continue to mount.