2024 on track to be warmest and first year above 1.5°C
Latest data from Copernicus, the EU’s flagship Earth observation programme, shows November 2024 was the second-warmest November globally, after November 2023.
The average surface air temperature was 14.10°C in November 2024, 0.73°C above the 1991-2020 average for November.
The month was 1.62°C above the pre-industrial level and was the 16th month in a 17-month period for which the global-average surface air temperature exceeded 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.
The year-to-date (January–November 2024) global-average temperature anomaly is 0.72°C above the 1991-2020 average, which is the highest on record for this period and 0.14°C warmer than the same period in 2023. At this point, it is effectively certain that 2024 is going to be the warmest year on record and more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level.
The average sea surface temperature (SST) for November 2024 over 60°S–60°N was 20.58°C, the second-highest value on record for the month, and only 0.13°C below November 2023.
The equatorial eastern and central Pacific had below-average temperatures, indicating a move towards neutral or La Niña conditions, characterised by unusually cold ocean temperatures in the Equatorial Pacific, but SSTs across the ocean remained unusually high over many regions.
Further, Arctic sea ice reached its third lowest monthly extent for November, at 9% below average. Sea ice concentration anomalies were well below average in the ocean sector surrounding Svalbard and Franz Josef Land in the Arctic Ocean.
Antarctic sea ice extent reached its lowest monthly value for November, at 10% below average, slightly surpassing the values from 2016 and 2023, and continuing a series of historically large negative anomalies observed throughout 2023 and 2024.
Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), said, "With Copernicus data in from the penultimate month of the year, we can now confirm with virtual certainty that 2024 will be the warmest year on record and the first calendar year above 1.5°C. This does not mean that the Paris Agreement has been breached, but it does mean ambitious climate action is more urgent than ever.”
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