A European climate agency said Earth is on pace for its hottest year yet

The Warmest Month of the Year 2020: Climate Records Breaking by Half of a Degree Fahrenheit in the Earth’s Atmosphere

Copernicus calculated that the average temperature for September was 16.38 degrees Celsius (61.48 degrees Fahrenheit), which broke the old record set in September 2020 by a whopping half-degree Celsius (0.9 degrees Fahrenheit). That is a very large margin in climate records.

Climate science factors have been a part of the summer, some of which are understood, and others that are more uncertain. It’s a certainty that the more greenhouse gases we pump into the atmosphere, the more warming we get. “We should expect not just record-breaking extremes, but record-shattering extremes,” says Marvel. “Things that break previous records by incredible margins.”

While July and August had hotter raw temperatures because they are warmer months on the calendar, September had what scientists call the biggest anomaly, or departure from normal. Temperature anomalies are crucial pieces of data in a warming world.

Earth is on track for its warmest year on record, with a temperature between 1.5 and 2 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than pre-industrial times.

The goal of 1.5 degrees Celsius is for long-term temperature averages. But scientists still expressed grave concern at the records being set.

Otto said there isn’t any end in sight given the new oil and gas reserves being opened for exploitation. “If you have more record hot events, there is no respite for humans and nature, no time to recover.”