Yesterday's crazy maximum temperatures across Europe indicate it was an unusually warm December day across the Mediterranean, Balkan peninsula and France, but also quite warm in Benelux and along the SE Alps – up to +22 °C, (71 deg F) in Bosnia & Herzegovina, up to +20 °C in Greece, Italy and NE Spain, up to +19 °C in Romania and France and up to +16 °C in Belgium! A new maximum December’s temperature was apparently reached in Salzburg, Austria today, +20.6 °C, around 70 deg F! And all indications it will become even warmer later in the week, let us remember, we are deep into December, most of the above-mentioned countries should be way down in single figure digits this time of the year. Down under, In a summer that doesn't officially even start for another few days, Australia recorded its hottest day on record with the national average temperature reaching a high of 40.9C (105.6F) across the whole country but it is a record that is unlikely to last very long! Australia is set to become even hotter for the rest of the week. So it should come as no surprise with NOAA's monthly world weather report for November showing November to be the 2nd hottest on record, read below.
November 2019 was 2nd hottest on record for the planet
Polar sea ice coverage shrank to near-record lows. Earth seems to be on repeat with another month of heat: November 2019 was the second-hottest November in the 140-year global climate record. Moreover, both the season (September through November) and the year to date (January through November) were each the second hottest in recorded history, according to scientists at NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
The exceptional heat also was felt at both ends of the world: Sea ice coverage across the Arctic and Antarctic oceans fell to near-record lows in November.
Here’s more from NOAA’s latest monthly global climate report:
Climate by the numbers November 2019
The average global land and ocean surface temperature for November 2019 was 1.66 degrees F (0.92 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average and the second-highest November temperature on record, just shy of November of 2015. In fact, the world’s five hottest Novembers have all occurred since 2013. The average global sea surface temperature in November was 1.39 degrees F (0.77 of a degree C) above average — the second-highest temperature for November on record, behind November 2015.
Year to date and seasonal statistics
The year-to-date global land and ocean surface temperature was 1.69 degrees F (0.94 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average, which made it the second-warmest period of January through November in the 140-year record — just behind the same period in 2016. The season (autumn or spring, depending on the hemisphere) saw an average global land and ocean temperature 1.69 degrees F (0.94 of a degree C) above the 20th-century average of 57.1 degrees F (14 degrees C). It was the second-hottest September-through-November period on record behind 2015.
More notable climate events from this report
Sea-ice coverage shrank to its second-lowest size on record for November in both the Arctic and Antarctic behind that observed in November 2016. Arctic sea ice coverage was 12.8 per cent below the 1981–2010 average, while the Antarctic coverage was 6.35 per cent below average.
Continents and island regions sweated it out: It was the hottest November on record for South America, Africa and the Hawaiian Islands. The Caribbean had its second-hottest November, and Europe had its seventh-hottest on record.
Warming of the ocean continued: The world’s average sea surface temperature ranked second warmest for the year to date — just 0.05 of a degree F (0.03 of a degree C) cooler than the record-breaking year of 2016.
More > Access NOAA’s latest climate report and download the images.
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