January to October: It has never been warmer than 2020 in Europe since registration began

According to preliminary analyzes by the World Weather Organization (WMO), 2020 will likely be one of the three hottest since the start of temperature records in the mid-19th century. For Europe, the average temperature in the first ten months was even higher than ever. This is what the organization reported in its preliminary report on Wednesday on the state of the climate in 2020.

It is already clear that the years since 2015 are the six warmest since the start of the measurements. The temperature record was reached in 2016 with more than 1.2 degrees compared to the pre-industrial level.

Current forecasts refer to measurements from January to October. During these months the global average temperature was 1.11-1.23 degrees above the average of the years 1850 to 1900. This despite the meteorological phenomenon of La Niña, which occurs every few years and which is actually accompanied by a temperature drop, developed in September. The results of the measurements north of the Arctic Circle in Siberia were particularly dramatic: the temperature from January to October was more than 5 degrees above the average from 1981 to 2010.

Except in Europe, according to the WMO, it was also very hot in the southwestern United States, western South America and parts of Central America. Canada, parts of Brazil, northern India and southeastern Australia, on the other hand, experienced cooler than average temperatures.

The global mean sea level has risen on average by 3.3 millimeters per year since the start of measurements in 1993, according to the WMO. A slight decline in 2020 – as in 2011 – is likely due to La Niña, but that does not change the long-term trend. During the La Niña months, it rains more in tropical river areas than on the sea, which means that the global sea level drops temporarily. La Niña is still expected to be heard until spring 2021, according to the WMO. Since 1993, sea levels have risen most sharply in the southern hemisphere east of Madagascar, New Zealand and South America.

One of the reasons for sea level rise is the melting of ice near the north and south poles. The island of Greenland lost about 152 gigatons of ice from September 2019 to August 2020. It was less than in 2019 when 329 gigatons melted. The WMO warns: “The Arctic is undergoing drastic changes as global temperatures rise. Since the mid-1980s, temperatures have risen at least twice as fast as the global average. ”

In the Arctic, sea ice extent in July and October was lower than ever since the start of measurements, the WMO reported. The smallest extent of ice occurred in September at 3.74 million square meters and was the second smallest (after 2012) ever measured. Arctic floating ice does not contribute to sea level rise when it melts. However, the earth warms up faster when the ice, which reflects the light, melts and the dark surfaces of the water are exposed. In February, the highest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica was measured at 20.75 degrees.

Sea level is also rising because the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere leads to an excess of energy in the Earth’s system, which is largely absorbed by the oceans. The sea water becomes warmer and expands.

Hurricane season in the North Atlantic has seen more severe storms this year than ever. In theory, it ended on November 30th. Parts of Africa and Asia have experienced heavy rains and floods, including the Sahel region, the Horn of Africa, the Indian subcontinent, as well as China, the Korean Peninsula, Japan and parts of Southeast Asia. Conversely, northern Argentina, Paraguay and western Brazil experienced severe droughts in South America.