Seasonal overview: The autumn season from September to November is characterised by high and record-breaking temperatures in many places. Never before has the average November monthly temperature on the continents of Asia, South America been as high as this year. Europe recorded the warmest August since records began. A frightening picture also emerged in our oceans. According to NOAA, global ocean surface temperature in November hit a monthly record high for the 8th consecutive month, resulting in record low sea ice extending at Antarctic and Artic regions.
Our global and monthly averaged temperature anomaly maps from September (left) to November (right) confirm these high-temperature anomalies for large parts of North America and Asia. During the months of October and November, large parts of Scandinavia experienced a negative temperature anomaly (-3 to -4 degrees Celsius). While Italy recorded one of its warmest November, Norway had its coldest November since 2010 (NOAA).
In addition, low-pressure solid systems have repeatedly moved across northern Europe over the past few months, causing strong wind gusts and heavy precipitation events in some cases. These could be recorded in large parts of Europe and, in some areas, even led to prolonged flooding.
Brazil’s drought: Since April 2023, many locations in Brazil have experienced above-average temperatures (+3°C), whereas precipitation volumes have been below the average since June in most areas. The only exception is the southern part of the country, where October and November 2023 showed heavy rainfall.
The phenomenon "El Niño" significantly influenced the former weather conditions in Brazil. During an "El Niño" phase, warm water moves into the Eastern Tropical Pacific Ocean and eastward winds weaken or reverse. Our map showing Sea Surface Temperature anomalies illustrates a typical El Niño phase. El Niño affects global weather patterns, typically causing higher temperatures and more drought in tropical areas. Regions like Southeast Asia, Australia, Central Asia, and parts of West Africa are especially impacted by drought, while East Africa and the South- and Central American Pacific coasts receive higher precipitation. Brazil commonly experiences drought during El Niño. Until the end of the year eight Brazilian states recorded their lowest rainfall ever measured between July and September in over 40 years, according to the country's disaster warning center CEMADEN.
Summarizing key facts about the year 2023:
As we have seen during the past four parts of the annual review, the global surface temperature during almost the whole year could be described as unusual high which even sets new all-time high records since the beginning of April. You can analyse this for each location with our climate change diagrams.
A change from La Niña to El Niño conditions in springtime and WMO declaring the onset of El Niño in early July contributed to the ocean temperature anomalies. In connection to this the record-low Antarctic and Arctic Sea ice extension was also covered. Further, the year 2023 is officially the warmest in global temperature data records since the beginning of records back in 1850. The atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration further increased, reaching a new record of 419 ppm for carbon dioxide. Heatwaves, wildfires, floods, droughts and other extreme weather events can be observed all over the globe, but the devastating wildfires in Canada stand out clearly.
As we reflect on the past year of weather events, 2023 brought us a spectrum of extremes. We wish you good weather in 2024! Stay tuned for further exciting updates, articles, and tools from our meteoblue experts throughout the year.
