2024 'virtually certain' to be warmest year on record, scientists say

Since early this year, climate scientists have been saying 2024 was likely to be the warmest year on record. Ten months in, it's now "virtually certain," the Copernicus Climate Change Service has announced.

This year is also virtually certain to be the first full year where global average temperatures were at least 2.7 degrees (1.5 Celsius) above preindustrial levels, said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Climate Change Service. That’s a target world leaders and climate scientists had hoped to stay below in the quest to curb rising temperatures.

“This marks a new milestone in global temperature records and should serve as a catalyst to raise ambition for the upcoming Climate Change Conference, COP29,” Burgess stated. The conference starts Monday in Azerbaijan.

The previous hottest year on record was last year.

October temperatures in the US

The average temperature in the United States in October – 59 degrees – was nearly 5 degrees above the 20^th-century average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said. It’s second only to 1963 as the warmest October in the 130-year record.

Last month was the warmest October on record in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and Utah, according to NOAA. It was the second warmest October in California, Colorado, Montana and Wyoming, and among the top 10 warmest in 10 other states.

It was also the second-driest October on record, tied with October 1963, and one reason firefighters are battling the Mountain Fire in California and even a fire in Brooklyn. Only October 1952 was drier.

It was the driest October on record in Delaware and New Jersey, according to NOAA.  

Eleven states have seen their warmest year on record so far, including Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin, NOAA said.

Nationwide, the average temperature year-to-date ranks as the second warmest on record.

Global temperatures in October

The global average surface temperature in October 2024 was roughly 2.97 degrees above preindustrial levels, according to the latest bulletin from the Copernicus Climate Change Service. Globally, the warmest October was recorded last year.

October was the fifteenth month in a 16-month period where the average temperature was at least 2.7 degrees above the preindustrial levels (1850-1900).

Average temperatures for the next two months would have to nearly match temperatures in the preindustrial period for this year not to be the warmest on record, the climate service said.

The global average for the past 12 months isn't just higher than the preindustrial level, it's 1.3 degrees higher than the average from 1991-2020.

The Copernicus findings are based on computer-generated analyses and billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.