Explainer | What is making 2023 likely to be the hottest year recorded?
- Scientists calculate that there is an 81 per cent chance 2023 will become the warmest year since thermometer records began in the mid-19th century
- This month’s heatwaves are ‘not one single phenomenon … But they are all strengthened by one factor: [human-made] climate change,’ experts say
Human-made climate change is supercharging natural weather phenomena which is driving the heatwaves that are roasting Asia, Europe and North America – and could make 2023 the hottest year since records began, scientists say.
Here, experts explain how 2023 has got so hot, warning that these record temperatures will get worse even if humanity drastically cuts its planet-warming gas emissions.
After a record hot summer in 2022, this year the Pacific warming phenomenon known as El Nino has returned, heating up the oceans.
“This may have provided some additional warmth to the North Atlantic, though because the El Nino event is only just beginning, this is likely only a small portion of the effect,” Robert Rohde of US temperature monitoring group Berkeley Earth wrote in an analysis.
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Tourists flock to Xinjiang’s scenic spot to experience 80-degree Celsius heat
The group calculated that there was an 81 per cent chance that 2023 would become the warmest year since thermometer records began in the mid-19th century.