2023 on track to be warmest year on record, say scientists

IT IS virtually certain that 2023 will be the hottest year on record after four months of global temperature records being “obliterated”, climate scientists have said.

October was the hottest ever recorded, following the hottest September, August and July, the latter of which may have seen temperatures higher than at any point in the last 120,000 years.

The month was 1.7C warmer than the pre-industrial average between 1850 and 1900 – the baseline against which scientists measure how much humans have warmed the Earth by emitting greenhouse gases.

So far this year, the average temperature is 1.43C higher than this preindustrial average, making it the hottest year on record.

With El Niño likely to continue into April 2024, according to the World Meteorological Organisation, it means the global average temperature will almost definitely remain at a record high over the next couple of months.