Earth experienced its hottest September since 1880, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Tuesday. Year to date, 2020 has been the second-hottest year since climate records were first kept 141 years ago.
Earth’s average temperature in September was 1.75 degrees above the 20th-century average.
Previously, 2015 and 2016 were tied for the hottest September on record, at 1.71 degrees above the average.
This year is also the second-hottest year to date, at 1.84 degrees above average. It trails the hottest year to date on record, 2016, by 0.07 degrees.
The American Meteorological Society published a study in May predicting there is a probability of 82% that the years between 2019 and 2028 will all become the 10 hottest years on record.
“It would likely take an abrupt climate shift for even a few years within the next decade to register outside the top 10 warmest years,” the study concluded.
This year will likely be one of the three hottest years, according to NOAA.
September was the 429th consecutive month during which temperatures were “at least nominally” above the average, according to the Hill.
In tandem with these findings, NOAA reported that the Arctic sea ice was at near-record lows, as sea ice “covered just 1.44 million square miles of the Arctic, the second-smallest minimum extent on record behind September 17, 2012.”
