September 2024 was the warmest since 1991 globally and the second in Europe, according to Copernicus

2024 will “almost certainly” be the warmest year on record

Oct. 8 () –

September 2024 was the warmest September since 1991 globally and the second in the case of Europe, according to the climate bulletin of the Climate Change Service (C3S) of Copernicus, the Earth observation component of the European Union (EU) space programme. Specifically, It had an average temperature of 16.17ºC according to the latest climate reanalysis produced by the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF), +0.73ºC more than the average for this month.

Regarding 2024, the temperature has been +0.71ºC higher than the average for the period between 1991 and 2020, which is the highest for this period and +0.19ºC higher than that of the same period in 2023. According to the C3S, the anomaly should decrease by more than 0.4ºC before the end of the year so that 2024 is not warmer than 2023, something that has never happened according to the data from the latest ECMWF climate reanalysis. For all these reasons, the Climate Change Service has advanced that 2024 will “almost certainly” be the warmest year since there are records.

The report details that September 2024 registered a variation of +1.54ºC on pre-industrial values. Overall, the global average temperature from October 2023 to September 2024 is the second highest on record for any twelve-month period. According to the research, it is +0.74ºC above the 1991-2020 average, or in other words, it exceeds the average from 1850 to 1900 by +1.62°C.

THE SEA TEMPERATURE, THE SECOND HIGHEST SINCE THERE ARE RECORDS

In turn, the C3S has indicated that the average sea surface temperature was 20.83ºC, the second highest since there are records for this month. It is only surpassed by that of September 2023 by 0.09ºC. The investigation has also detailed that, according to provisional data, Daily Arctic sea ice extent reached its sixth lowest annual minimum, while monthly sea ice extent ranked fifth lowest in the satellite record, 19% below average.

On the other hand, and also according to provisional data, Antarctic sea ice reached its maximum annual extent, although it remained at almost record levels for the time of year. With a monthly value 7% below average, it marked the second lowest extension for September on record, behind September 2023.

THE SEPTEMBER TEMPERATURE IN EUROPE WAS +1.74ºC ABOVE THE AVERAGE

As far as Europe is concerned, The average temperature in September 2024 was +1.74ºC higher than the average for September between 1991 and 2020making the month the warmest September in Europe on record. It has only been surpassed by September 2023, which recorded an anomaly of +2.51ºC. By area, temperatures especially above average in eastern and northeastern Europe. However, they remained below average in much of Western Europe, including France, most of the Iberian Peninsula and Iceland.

Finally, the report states that much of Europe experienced above-average rainfall in September 2024 and recalled how Storm Boris caused heavy rain, flooding and associated damage in the middle of the month in central and eastern Europe. In contrast, the month was drier than average in Ireland, the north of the United Kingdom and a large region in far eastern Europe and in the west and south of the Iberian Peninsula, where severe forest fires were observed.