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September 2023 scorches NOAA records, warmer than the average July during early 2000s

Writer: Paul Dolan
Published: Updated:
September
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

In the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s 174-year global climate record, September 2023 was the warmest September recorded.

According to NOAA, last month was so atypically warm that it was even warmer than the average July throughout the early 2000s.

“September 2023 was warmer than the average July from 2001-2010,” said NOAA Chief Scientist Dr. Sarah Kapnick.

The shockingly warm month catapulted 2023 into the warmest year-to-date temperature on record, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

September
A map of the world plotted with some of the most significant climate events that occurred during September 2023. Please see the story below as well as more details in the report summary from NOAA NCEI. CREDIT: NOAA/NCEI

The warm September temperatures practically guarantee that 2023 will become the warmest year on record. According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook and data through that month, there is a greater than 99% probability that 2023 will rank as the warmest year on record.

“September 2023 was the fourth month in a row of record-warm global temperatures,” said Kapnick. “Not only was it the warmest September on record, it was far and away the most atypically warm month of any in NOAA’s 174 years of climate keeping.”

September was also a busy month for tropical cyclones. With 10 named storms in the Atlantic, September 2023 tied the same months in 2010 and 2020 for the most on record.

September
Land & Ocean Temperature Percentiles Jan-Sept. 2023. CREDIT: NOAA

During last month, 17 named storms occurred worldwide. Seven of those storms became strong enough to be considered tropical cyclones.

Another notable climate occurrence this September was it set the record for the lowest global September sea ice extent (coverage) on record. Previously, Sept. 2016 set that record.

Click here for more information from NOAA.

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