Earth Was Due for Another Year of Record Warmth. But This Warm?

2023 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 Record-hot month +1.0C Monthly global temperature compared with average for the 20th century +0.5C 12 months Hotter than average 0 Cooler than average 0.5C 2023 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 Record-hot month +1.0C Monthly global temperature compared with average for the 20th century +0.5C 12 months Hotter than average 0 Cooler than average 0.5C 2023 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 Record-hot month Monthly global temperature compared with average for the 20th century +1.0C +0.5C 12 months Hotter than average 0 Cooler 0.5C Monthly global temperature compared with average for the 20th century 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 2023 Record-hot month Hotter than average +1.0C +0.5C 12 months 0 0.5C Cooler Source: NOAA Note: Monthly temperature anomalies for global land and ocean are relative to 1901-2000 averages. Data available through November 2023. By Nadja Popovich Earth is finishing up its warmest year in the past 174 years, and very likely the past 125,000. Unyielding heat waves broiled Phoenix and Argentina. Wildfires raged across Canada. Flooding in Libya killed thousands. Wintertime ice cover in the dark seas around Antarctica was at . This years global temperatures did not just beat prior records. They left them in the dust. From June through November, the mercury spent month after month soaring off the charts. Decembers temperatures have largely remained above normal: Much of the Northeastern United States is expecting springlike conditions this week. That is why scientists are already sifting through evidence from oceans, volcanic eruptions, even pollution from cargo ships to see whether this year might reveal something new about the climate and what we are doing to it. One hypothesis, perhaps the most troubling, is that the planets warming is accelerating, that the effects of climate change are barreling our way more quickly than before. What were looking for, really, is a bunch of corroborating evidence that all points in the same direction, said Chris Smith, a climate scientist at the University of Leeds. Then were looking for causality. And that will be really interesting. As extreme as this years temperatures were, they did not catch researchers off guard. Scientists computational models offer a range of projected temperatures, and 2023s heat is still broadly within this range, albeit on the high end. We are having trouble retrieving the article content. Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and your Times account, or for all of The Times. Thank you for your patience while we verify access. Already a subscriber? . Want all of The Times? .