Tuesday, 10 December 2024.
“At this point, it is effectively certain that 2024 is going to be the warmest year on record and more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level according to ERA5”.
This was announced yesterday, 9 December by Copernicus, the European Union program that monitors the Earth's environment and planet.
According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, this 1.5°C global warming threshold was expected to be reached around 2050.
ERA5 is a regular analysis produced by the Copernicus Climate Change Service at European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, with hourly estimates of a large number of atmospheric, land and oceanic climate variables.
This also means that, in addition to the announcement about breaking the 1.5°C barrier, more things were announced:
Outside Europe, temperatures were most above average over eastern Canada and the central and eastern USA, most of Mexico, Morocco, northwest Africa, China, Pakistan, most of Siberia, and Australia.
Temperatures were most notably below average across the western United States, parts of northern Africa, over far eastern Russia, and across most of Antarctica.
The average sea surface temperature for November 2024 over 60°S–60°N was 20.58°C, the second-highest value on record for the month, and only 0.13°C below November 2023.
Wetter-than-average conditions were seen in many regions of the United States, over much of Australia and in large regions of South America, across central Asia to easternmost China. Typhoons swept over the western Pacific leading to heavy rainfall and damage particularly in the Philippines.
Drier-than-average conditions were seen in the southwestern USA, Mexico, Chile and Brazil, the Horn of Africa, regions of central Asia, southeastern China and southern Africa. Several regions of North and South America experienced drought.
Arctic sea ice reached its third lowest monthly extent for November, at 9% below average.
Well… physical chemistry… “Hot air expands and rises; the cooled air contracts – becomes denser – and descends; and the capacity of air to retain water depends on its temperature… a given volume of air at 20°C can retain twice as much water vapor at 10°C”
Click at the image below to read Copernicus full press release.
Important to recall that developed countries are already preparing for a much hotter Earth.
Earlier this year, we reported about the French government considering the following global temperature scenarios:
It seems that plans like this will become more frequent. And they will need to be reviewed regularly.
Last but not least, to know what you can do about all that, check our page with the posts clustered by topics. It's about action and there you can read about various global cutting-edge solutions and ideas.
