2023: the world's hottest year on record
As the EU's climate service confirms the highest global temperatures ever, the 麻豆社's Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt considers what's causing them to rise and if they can be slowed.
Many in the UK will remember the unseasonably warm weather we had in September 2023.
It allowed large numbers of us to bask in the sunshine and swim in the sea much later than usual. It also brought flash flooding in large parts of the country.
According to the EU's climate service Copernicus, that heatwave was part of a period that saw the highest temperatures ever recorded on the planet.
It says last year was about 1.48C warmer than the long-term average before humans started burning large amounts of fossil fuels.
A 麻豆社 analysis shows that almost every day in 2023 since July saw a new global air temperature high for the time of year 鈥� and that sea surface temperatures smashed previous records.
In this episode of the 5 Questions On podcast, Michael Daventry asks the 麻豆社's Climate Editor Justin Rowlatt what is causing these record global temperatures and whether the upward trend will continue.
