Environment

Europe went through the hottest October on record

17 Nov, 2020

Europe went through the hottest October on record according to new data from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

High temperatures have prevented the Arctic ocean from freezing over in winter. Simply put, this is the third hottest October ever recorded on the planet. In addition, it was the fourth consecutive month where the Northern Sea route along the Russian Northen coast remained almost ice-free.

Several parts of the Tibetan plateau, Siberia, Europe, and Alaska recorded abnormal warmth with heatwaves clustered in Africa and South America. Americans were less exposed to the heat as temperatures remained below average in the central United States and southern Canada.

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The findings

The latest report by the EU on the Earth Observation Programme, Copernicus, shows that October 2020 remains in line with yearly trends - third-warmest October on record. Last month was 0.69°C hotter than the average monthly temperature excluding those in the north and northwest of the continent. Normal European temperatures are higher than the global averages - particularly in winter.

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Temperatures have risen above average in large parts of the Arctic while the Western part of the USA and Canada remain colder as usual. October temperatures are 1.2 degrees above pre-industrial levels according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). This is fairly close to the 1.5°C set as the lower limit in the Paris Climate agreement with warming between 1.5°C and 2°C. In September 2009, temperatures were 0.57°C above the average translating to the fifth month in a row of record-breaking.

In North America, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) listed July 2009 as its warmest month in 140 years.