'Virtually certain that 2023 will be warmest ever yr'

This year (until the end of October) was about 1.40 degrees Celsius warmer over the pre-industrial (1850-1900) baseline, the World Meteorological Organisation said on the opening day of the UN Climate Summit (COP28) in Dubai, adding that 2023 will be the warmest year irrespective of the last two months of the year.

- Jayashree Nandi

WMO - STATE OF GLOBAL CLIMATE REPORT

The difference between 2023 and 2016 and 2020 - which were previously ranked as the warmest years is such that the final two months are very unlikely to affect the ranking, WMO's provisional State of the Global Climate report said.

"Based on the data to October, it is virtually certain that 2023 will be the warmest year in the 174-year observational record, surpassing the previous joint warmest years, 2016 at around 1.29 degree Cabove the 1850-1900 average and 2020 at 1.27 degree C. Record monthly global temperatures have been observed for the ocean - from April through to October - and, starting slightly later, the land from July through to October," the WMO report said.