September was yet another blistering hot month around the world and the fourth month in a row that was its hottest on record, a new report shows.
Copernicus Climate Change Services, a European data agency providing information on the environment, uses global air temperature, sea ice and other variables to form its reports from billions of measurements from around the world.
The data published Thursday showed last month was the warmest September on record globally with an average surface air temperature of 16.38 C.
"The unprecedented temperatures for the time of year observed in September 鈥� following a record summer 鈥� have broken records by an extraordinary amount," Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a press release.
This record is 0.93 C above the 1991 to 2020 average and 0.5 C above the previous warmest September in 2020.
September 2023 averaged 1.75 C warmer than the average September between 1850 to 1900 鈥� the preindustrial reference period, the report notes.
Last month was not an anomaly the report says, as temperatures have been rising since January.
Between the start of this year and September, the global mean temperature is 1.40 C higher than the preindustrial average.
If the world continues on this path, researchers say, it's likely 2023 could be the hottest year on record.
"This extreme month has pushed 2023 into the dubious honour of first place 鈥� on track to be the warmest year and around 1.4 C above preindustrial average temperatures," Burgess said. "Two months out from COP28 鈥� the sense of urgency for ambitious climate action has never been more critical."
