NASA and NOAA: 2023 was the warmest year on record

Writer: Nicholas Karsen
Published: Updated:

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration held their annual assessments of global temperatures, and South Florida was reportedly among one of the hottest regions, according to scientists.

The conference was held at 11 a.m., on Friday had panelists discussing the global warming trend.

According to the data recorded by NOAA, Earth’s average land and ocean temperature in 2023 was 2.12F above the 20th century’s average temperature.

Notably, Southwest Florida is included in an area NOAA marks as having “record warmest” temperatures.

Map of global average surface temperature in 2023 compared to the 1991-2020 average, with places that were warmer than average colored red, and places that were cooler than average colored blue. The bars on the graph shows global temperatures compared to the 20th-century average each year from 2023 (right) back to 1976 (left)–the last year the world was cooler than average. Based on data from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. (Image credit: NOAA Climate.gov, using NOAA NCEI data)

“After seeing the 2023 climate analysis, I have to pause and say that the findings are astounding,” said Dr. Sarah Kapnick, NOAA. “Not only was 2023 the warmest year in NOAA’s 174-year climate record, but it became the warmest by far.”

An early outlook for 2024 suggests a one-in-three chance that this year will be warmer than 2023, with a 99% chance that 2024 will rank among the top five warmest years recorded.

Other notable climate findings show that the global ocean heat content had set a new record high. Data gathered from the upper 2,000 meters of the ocean read that the trend has been on a steady incline since approximately 1970.

An annotated map of the world plotted with the year’s most significant climate events. Please see the story below as well as the report summary from NOAA NCEI. CREDIT: NOAA NCEI

The global surface temperature in December was 2.57F above the 20th-century average, making it the warmest on record for the ninth consecutive month.

It was also pointed out the polar ice caps continued shrinking as annual 2023 Antarctic Sea ice coverage averaged about 3.79 million square miles, the lowest on record.

According to NOAA, the Arctic Sea ice coverage averaged about 4.05 million square miles in 2023, ranking among the 10 lowest years on record. 

Watch the replay of the full press conference in the video player above.

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