Earth experiences second-warmest May on record, says European climate agency - SILive.com

Earth experiences second-warmest May on record, says European climate agency - silive.com

The Earth experienced its second-warmest May on record and its hottest-ever sea surface temperature average across ice-free oceans during the month, said an analysis by the Copernicus Climate Change Service, a European Union program.

Falling less than 0.1 degrees Celsius below the warmest May ever tracked in over three decades, last month saw parts of Canada, Africa and Southeast Asia suffer significantly warmer temperatures than normal, helping to propel the global temperature up the all-time charts.

Part of the shift was due to developing El Niño weather pattern, which has now fully arrived, which is marked by warmer-than-average ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.

For the third time this year, researchers said Antarctic sea ice extent fell to a record-low monthly value compared to typical levels observed during this time of year, plummeting 17% below average. Meanwhile, sea ice extent in the Arctic sea was close to normal levels and nearly identical to figures tracked one year ago.

“May 2023 was the 2nd warmest globally as we are seeing the El Niño signal continuing to emerge in the equatorial Pacific,” said Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service. “Temperatures over the ocean are already reaching record levels and our data indicates that the average temperature over all ice-free seas for May 2023 was higher than for any other May.”
Temperature departures from normal for the United States between January and May 2023. (NOAA)

The United States experienced its 11th-warmest May, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration(NOAA), fueled by states in the country’s north and experiencing exceptionally warm conditions. Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana all had their top-five warmest May months on record.

Average temperature nationwide was 62.4 degrees Fahrenheit — a 2.2 degrees increase from the historical average across the past 129 years.

While much of the rest of the country saw temperatures remain either average or slightly-below average for this time of year, the first five months of 2023 have been notably warmer-than-usual in parts of the country, including the Northeast. Between January and May, 28 states have experienced a top-10 warmest event, the NOAA said.

International researchers have found the warmest 10 years in recorded history have occurred since 2010. A previous Copernicus analysis found global temperatures have risen approximately 1.2 degrees Celsius above mid-19th-century levels— increasingly close to the 1.5 degree mark experts say could have cascading impacts to life on Earth.

Scientists note that even if warming is not limited to promises outlined in the international 2015 Paris Climate Agreement that aimed to keep temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels, mitigating every additional tenth of a degree will make a difference.