2023 was officially the hottest year on RECORD - with global temperatures close to the 1.5°C limit, scientists warn
Scientists are increasingly linking extreme weather events with the warming of the planet, which is being largely caused by carbon emissions from fossil fuels. Pictured, a man pulls a bag of goods salvaged from a building as he wades through floodwaters on August 5, 2023 in Zhuozhou, Hebei Province south of Beijing, China A man cools off at a temporary misting station deployed by the city in the Downtown Eastside due to a heat wave, in Vancouver, British Columbia, August 16, 2023 Brits may find the new record hard to believe as the country was hit by cold air and rain through much of the summer, despite heatwaves around mainland Europe. 2023 set the record for warmest ever year largely due to 'unprecedented' global temperatures from June onwards, fueled mainly by greenhouse gases. A Canadair firefighting plane sprays water during a fire in Dervenochoria, north-west of Athens, on July 19, 2023 A woman cools herself with a fan as temperatures due to sweltering conditions in Rome, July 18, 2023 In 2023, two days in November were, for the first time, more than 3.6°F warmer than the 'pre-industrial' average Atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and methane continued to increase and reached record levels in 2023 Why are temperatures compared to 'pre-industrial' levels? Global average sea surface temperatures reached record levels from April through December, while August had the highest global monthly average sea surface temperature on record, at 69.76°F.
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