Warmth continued at a steady rate across the world last month, making for the fourth hottest September on record for the globe and the fourth warmest year to date, the latest analysis by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information informed.
As a matter of fact, the 10 most warm September global land and ocean surface temperatures have taken place since 2003 with the last five Septembers (2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018) being the five warmest ever recorded.
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Namely, the average global temperature in September was 1.40 degrees F above the 20th-century average of 59 degrees. This was the fourth highest global temperature for September in the 139-year record (1880-2018).
Last September was also the 42nd September in a row and the 405th consecutive month with temperatures above average.
The year-to-date average global temperature was 1.39 degrees F above the average of 57.5 degrees.
This is the fourth highest on record for the January-through-September period (YTD) and 0.43 of a degree lower than the record high set in 2016 for the same period.
Some of the most notable climate facts until now are the following:
- Land and seas warming continued: The averaged land-surface temperature was the sixth highest on record for September and the fourth highest for the YTD period. The globally averaged sea-surface temperature was fourth highest on record for September and fourth highest for the YTD.
- Record-warm continents: Parts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, North and South America, Europe, Africa and Asia experienced record warmth. Temperatures were at least 3.6 degrees F above average across southern South America, Alaska, the southwestern and eastern U.S., much of Europe, the Middle East and parts of Russia.
- Sea ice coverage remained smaller than average at the poles: The average Arctic sea ice coverage in September was 26.5% below the 1981-2010 average, the seventh-smallest extent for September on record. The Antarctic sea ice extent last September was 3.3% below average, the second smallest for September on record.
In the following infographic, you can see climate anomalies as recorded throughout the world:
