Earth records warmest September on record, Copernicus confirms

New statistics released by the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) have revealed that September 2023 was the warmest September on record globally – and by a huge margin – while 2023 is on course to be the hottest year since records began.

C3S recorded an average surface air temperature globally of 16.38 degrees Celsius. That number is 0.93 degrees above the 1991-2020 average for September and 0.5 degrees above the temperature of the previous warmest September, in 2020.

Global temperatures in September have also resulted in another unfortunate record as the most anomalous warm month of any year since 1940. This means global temperature records are being broken by bigger margins than ever before. The month as a whole was around 1.75 degrees warmer than the September average for 1850-1900, the pre-industrial reference period.  

And if those statistics weren’t enough to cause climate scientists alarm, the global temperature for January-September 2023 was a staggering 0.52 degrees higher than average, and 0.05 degrees higher than the equivalent period in the warmest calendar year (2016). 

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Scientists have blamed rising temperatures on a combination of climate change and an El Nino weather pattern, which refers to a warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface temperatures, in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

With COP 28 just two months away, there will be continued pressure for politicians across the world to take a firm stance on climate change and agree aggressive targets to reduce emissions and halt rising global temperatures.

Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), said: “The unprecedented temperatures for the time of year observed in September – following a record summer – have broken records by an extraordinary amount. 

“This extreme month has pushed 2023 into the dubious honor of first place – on track to be the warmest year and around 1.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial average temperatures. Two months out from COP28 – the sense of urgency for ambitious climate action has never been more critical.”

Soaring temperatures are also having a negative impact on sea ice levels. Antarctic sea ice extent – this is the area of ice that covers the Arctic Ocean at a given time – remained at a record low level for the time of year. Both the daily and monthly extents reached their lowest annual maxima in the satellite record in September, with the monthly extent 9 percent below average.   

The daily Arctic Sea ice extent reached its sixth lowest annual minimum while the month on month it is now 18% below average.  Sea ice plays an important role in reflecting sunlight back into space, regulating ocean and air temperature, circulating ocean water, and maintaining animal habitats.

Rainfall is also on the rise. September 2023 saw wetter-than-average conditions along many parts of the western seaboard of Europe, including the western Iberian Peninsula, Ireland, northern Britain, and Scandinavia. 

It was also wetter than average in Greece following extreme rainfall associated with storm Daniel; this event was also responsible for the devastating flooding in Libya. Southern Brazil and southern Chile also experienced extreme precipitation events.  

In contrast, drier-than-average regions included parts of Europe, the south-eastern U.S., Mexico, central Asia, and Australia, where the driest September on record was recorded.  

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