Virtually certain that 2023 will be the warmest year, says WMO report

The difference between 2023 and 2016 and 2020 -- which were previously ranked as the warmest years -- is such that the final two months are very unlikely to affect the ranking, WMO’s provisional State of the Global Climate report said.

“Based on the data to October, it is virtually certain that 2023 will be the warmest year in the 174-year observational record, surpassing the previous joint warmest years, 2016 at around 1.29 degree C above the 1850–1900 average and 2020 at 1.27 degree C. Record monthly global temperatures have been observed for the ocean – from April through to October – and, starting slightly later, the land – from July through to October,” the WMO report said.

The past nine years, 2015 to 2023, were also the warmest on record. “The warming El Niño event, which emerged during the Northern Hemisphere spring of 2023 and developed rapidly during summer, is likely to further fuel the heat in 2024 because El Niño typically has the greatest impact on global temperatures after it peaks,” WMO warned on Thursday. Greenhouse gas levels were also at record high in 2022 and continued to increase this year.