Europe has experienced the coldest autumn since data were measured

BarcelonaDespite the fact that in Catalonia autumn has been hugely varied, with October being one of the coldest months in recent years, in Europe as a whole the temperature in September, October and November has broken a new record, and by a fairly wide margin. In the whole of the continent the temperature has been 1.9ºC higher than the average 1981-2010, and has been 0.4ºC above the previous record, from 2006, according to data made public today by the Copernicus project of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF).

The report also points out that on a global scale November has broken a new record, and again by a remarkable difference. The average global temperature was 0.77ºC higher than the average for the period 1981-2010, and 0.13ºC higher than the very recent records of 2016 and last year. This is one of the strongest temperature anomalies recorded for any month. Only the months of February and March 2016 and January 2020 recorded a more abnormally high average temperature.

Another striking fact is that of the last twelve months. Between December last year and November this year the temperature data is very close to the historical record. According to the ECMWF, the last twelve months have only been one hundredth of a degree less warm globally than the hottest periods ever recorded in the world. The periods from October 2015 to September 2016 and from February 2019 to January 2020 are still the warmest on record.

Although the ECMWF report does not specify what the chances are that 2020 will end up being the warmest year ever recorded in the world, it does suggest that if December's temperature anomaly is as marked as November's, 2020 could end up overtaking 2016 as the warmest year in the world since data are available.