It has never been as warm in Europe as it was last month. Temperatures were two degrees higher on average. There are also a number of daily records. But you shouldn’t be happy about it.
After the warmest summer, this year Europe also experienced the warmest October on record since records began. This was announced by the EU climate change service Copernicus. Accordingly, the average temperatures were almost two degrees above the average of the reference period from 1991 to 2020. Daily records were set in the west of the continent. On a national level, no such warm October has been measured in Austria, Switzerland and France, this also applied to large parts of Italy and Spain.
October 2022 was also warmer than average outside of Europe, with record temperatures being measured in Canada. It was similarly unusually mild in Greenland and Siberia. On the other hand, it was colder than average in Australia, in the extreme east of Russia and in parts of Antarctica.
The extent of the Arctic sea ice was nine percent below average, but was still significantly larger than in the year of the negative record of 2020. At 4 percent below average, the sea ice cover in Antarctica was smaller than in only four other years before.
In view of the values, Copernicus Deputy Director Samantha Burgess called for decisive action at the UN climate change conference COP27, which is currently taking place in Egypt. “The severe consequences of climate change are very visible today and we need ambitious climate action at COP27 to ensure emissions are reduced to stabilize temperatures close to the Paris Agreement target of 1.5 degrees,” said Burgess according to the notification.
The Copernicus records go back to 1979. The climate change service also uses data from ground stations, balloons, airplanes and satellites going back to 1950. Data on temperatures, sea ice cover and other aspects are published monthly using computer analysis.