2023 on track to be warmest year on record

Moreover, this average is half a degree above the temperature recorded during what was so far the warmest September on record, the Bonn-based agency stressed.

The difference is 1.75 degrees Celsius above the average for the 1850-1900 period, the pre-industrial period used as a reference for measuring the effects of climate change.

For the months of January to September, the global average temperature was 0.52°C above average and 0.05°C above the warmest January-September period ever recorded, in 2016.

Looking at Europe alone, September was 2.51°C warmer than the 1991-2000 average and 1.1°C warmer than the previous record holder.

Samantha Burgess, the deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, stressed that these "unprecedented" temperatures for the time of year were record-breaking by a wide margin.

"This extreme month has pushed 2023 into the dubious honour of the top spot, on track to become the warmest year and 1.4°C above pre-industrial average temperatures," she said.

"With two months to go until COP28, the sense of urgency for ambitious climate action has never been more essential," he remarked, referring to this year's climate conference in Dubai.

Other data in today's bulletin show that ice extent in Antarctica remained at a record low for this time of year, while in the Arctic it reached its sixth lowest annual minimum.

Elsewhere, September saw wetter than usual weather conditions in the Iberian Peninsula and other parts of western Europe, as well as in Greece, due to the effects of storm Daniel, which also caused the deadly floods in Libya.

Southern Chile and southern Brazil also experienced extreme rainfall, while parts of Europe, the southeastern United States, Mexico and Central Asia remained unusually dry and Australia experienced its driest September on record.