Earth saw hottest year on record in 2023, may surpass key warming threshold by February

2023 was the warmest year recorded in 173 years of record-keeping, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirmed Tuesday.

The past year saw global average temperatures of 14.98 degrees Celsius, 0.6 degrees warmer than the last 30 years and 1.48 degrees warmer than the pre-industrial period, the second half of the 19th century. It surpassed the previous hottest year on record, 2016, by 0.17 degrees.

Copernicus also found that 2023 marked the first instance recorded in which every day of a year was at least 1 degree hotter than pre-industrial levels. It additionally determined that nearly half of the days in the past year surpassed the temperature threshold of 1.5 degrees Celsius over pre-industrial levels that was set as a limit in the Paris Climate Agreement, while two days in November surpassed 2 degrees above pre-industrial levels, the first time on record that has happened.

The service also said it is “likely” the 12-month period ending in either January or February will surpass 1.5 degrees above those levels.

The year also saw the warmest two individual months on record in July and August, in keeping with earlier reports that summer 2023 was the hottest summer recorded.

“The extremes we have observed over the last few months provide a dramatic testimony of how far we now are from the climate in which our civilization developed. This has profound consequences for the Paris Agreement and all human endeavors,” Copernicus Director Carlo Buontempo said in a statement. “If we want to successfully manage our climate risk portfolio, we need to urgently decarbonize our economy whilst using climate data and knowledge to prepare for the future.”

Copernicus scientists said as early as November that 2023 was “virtually certain” to be the warmest year on record. That followed reports that October was the hottest October in records dating back to 1940. Copernicus said Tuesday that December was also the warmest December ever recorded, with average temperatures 1.78 degrees above the pre-industrial average for the month.