Last month was the second hottest November on RECORD: Global average temperatures hit 14.10°C – and scientists are ‘effectively certain’ that 2024 is going to be the warmest year ever

Last month was officially the second warmest November on record.

This is according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), which has revealed that global average temperatures reached a pleasant 14.10°C.

That’s just 0.12°C cooler than November 2023, which was the warmest November on record.

It is also 0.73°C above the 1991-2020 November average.

The news is likely to come as a surprise to many Britons, who faced storms, snow and heavy rain late last month.

However, based on the findings, scientists say it is now “virtually certain” that 2024 will be the hottest year on record.

“Using Copernicus data from the penultimate month of the year, we can now confirm with virtual certainty that 2024 will be the warmest year on record and the first calendar year with temperatures above 1.5°C,” said Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of C3S. .

“This does not mean that the Paris Agreement has been breached, but it does mean that ambitious climate action is more urgent than ever.”

CS3 takes billions of measurements from satellites, ships, planes and weather stations around the world.

This allows you to track global surface air and sea temperatures, sea ice cover, and hydrological variables.

Their records confirm that November 2024 was the second warmest November globally, at 1.62°C above the pre-industrial level.

It was also the 16th month in a 17-month period in which the global average surface air temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The global average temperature so far this year is currently 0.72 °C higher than the average for the period 1991-2020, which is the highest recorded for this period and 0.14 °C warmer than the same period in 2023 .

At this point, CS3 says it is “effectively certain” that 2024 will be the warmest year on record.

In Europe, the story was very different.

The average temperature for November 2024 was 5.14°C, leaving it outside the 10 warmest Novembers recorded in Europe.

However, outside Europe, temperatures were most above average in eastern Canada and the central and eastern United States, most of Mexico, Morocco, northwest Africa, China, Pakistan, most of Siberia and Australia.

C3S also tracks the sea surface temperature and found it to be 20.58°C.

This makes it the second highest value recorded for the month, only surpassed by November 2023.

Finally, C3S recordings reveal that Arctic sea ice reached its third-lowest monthly extent in November, nine percent below average.

Meanwhile, at the South Pole, Antarctic sea ice extent reached its lowest monthly value in November, 10 percent below average.

The report comes shortly after scientists warned that the Arctic could be ice-free in just three years.

Using 300 computer simulations, scientists predicted that the first ice-free day in the Arctic will occur within nine to 20 years, regardless of how humans alter their greenhouse gas emissions.

However, nine of the 300 simulations suggested that an ice-free day could occur within three years, regardless of how humans act from now on.

Study author Dr Céline Heuzé said: “Globally, Arctic sea ice plays a crucial role in controlling climate by returning sunlight to space.

“When we lose this white surface and are left with the dark ocean, the sun’s energy stays with us, is absorbed by the ocean and causes even more global warming.”