2023 Expected to Be Hottest Year on Record

With full December data still outstanding, 2023 has already qualified as the globe's hottest year on record due to temperatures well above the average between June and November. USA Today reports that official hottest-year announcements from NASA, NOAA and Copernicus Climate Change Service will follow in the coming weeks. For example, September 2023 was 1.43° C (2.57° F) hotter than the 20th century average temperature. Second-placed September 2020 was just 0.98° C (1.76° F) hotter.

Data shows that the months of June through November 2023 have been the hottest of their kinds since records started in 1850 - with July 2023 qualifying as the hottest of them all. 2023 also saw the second-hottest March and the third-hottest May ever.

The years between 2014 and 2023 have been the ten warmest on record according to NASA and NOAA. The year 2016, which like 2023 included the influence of a strong El Niño, was the warmest year on Earth at its conclusion. It was about matched by 2020 and both will now be overtaken by 2023.

While fluctuating temperatures and very hot, very dry or very cold days are a normal phenomenon, extreme weather events have become more frequent and severe due to climate change. Overall, a higher concentration of CO₂ and other climate gases in the Earth's atmosphere has led to rising average global temperatures, scientific consensus has found.