Austria, France, Germany, Poland, and Switzerland have all recently reported experiencing their warmest Septembers on record, an alarming development in a year that is poised to go down in history as one of the hottest ever witnessed by humanity, with the relentless march of climate change quickening its pace.
The extraordinary and unseasonable warmth that has enveloped Europe has arrived on the heels of an announcement from the EU climate monitoring body, which declared earlier this month that the Northern Hemisphere's summer had been the hottest on record. This revelation underscores the global nature of the rising temperatures and the profound impact of climate change on our planet.
Meteo-France, the meteorological authority in France, disclosed that the average temperature for September in the country is expected to hover around 21.5 degrees Celsius (70.7 degrees Fahrenheit). This is a substantial 3.5 to 3.6 degrees Celsius above the reference period from 1991 to 2020. Significantly, France has been consistently experiencing temperatures above the monthly norms for nearly two years, highlighting the persistence of this climatic shift.
In neighboring Germany, the German Weather Service (DWD) has confirmed that this month stands as the hottest September on record since national records were initiated, with temperatures nearly 4 degrees Celsius higher than the baseline from 1961 to 1990.
Poland's weather institute has also sounded the alarm, declaring that September temperatures surged by 3.6 degrees Celsius above the historical average, marking the hottest September since records commenced over a century ago.
Furthermore, Austria and Switzerland, both nestled in the Alpine region, witnessed their highest-ever average September temperatures as well. This unsettling news emerged just a day after a study revealed that Swiss glaciers had experienced a harrowing loss of 10 percent of their volume over a mere two-year period due to extreme warming.
Even Spain and Portugal are not exempt from this climatic upheaval, with their national weather institutes issuing warnings of abnormally high temperatures expected to impact their regions. Southern Spain, in particular, saw mercury levels soar to over 35 degrees Celsius on a Friday, indicating the severity of the heatwave.
The scientific consensus attributes this unsettling trend of rising temperatures to human-induced climate change, with global temperatures currently standing at approximately 1.2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service has projected that 2023 is poised to become the hottest year on record for humanity, adding to the urgency of addressing this crisis.
The looming El Nino weather phenomenon, known for its capacity to elevate temperatures by warming the waters in the southern Pacific and beyond, further raises concerns about future temperature spikes. The disruption to Earth's climate systems is increasingly manifesting in the form of extreme weather events, such as heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and storms, with devastating consequences for human lives and property.
In response to this urgent climate crisis, world leaders are scheduled to convene in Dubai on November 30 for crucial UN discussions aimed at mitigating the most catastrophic effects of climate change, including the crucial objective of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as outlined in the landmark 2015 Paris Agreement. The agenda will prominently feature strategies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, phasing out the consumption of polluting fossil fuels, bolstering climate finance, and expanding renewable energy capacity.
Francois Gemenne, the lead author of a UN climate report, emphasized the relentless trajectory of rising temperatures, cautioning that until carbon neutrality is achieved, records for extreme heat will continue to be broken consistently, week after week, month after month, and year after year. This underlines the critical importance of immediate and sustained action to combat climate change and safeguard the future of our planet.
Â
