‘Second warmest November confirms 2024 will be warmest year’

November 2024 was the second warmest November worldwide after November 2023. According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, it confirms the expectation that 2024 will be the warmest year. The average surface air temperature was 14.10°C, 0.73°C above the November average from 1991-2020.

November 2024 was 1.62°C above pre-industrial levels, the 16th month in a 17-month period in which the global average surface air temperature was 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

The global average temperature anomaly to date (January-November 2024) is 0.72°C above the 1991-2020 average, the highest ever recorded for this period, and 0.14°C warmer than in the same period in 2023. At this point, it is effectively certain that 2024 will be the warmest year on record and more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels.

Europe and other regions

The average temperature over European land in November 2024 was 5.14 °C, 0.78 °C above the November average in 1991-2020. November 2015 was the warmest November on record, with 1.74°C above average. In November 2024, most of Western and Central Europe experienced below-average precipitation.

Outside Europe, temperatures were above average in eastern Canada and the central and eastern US, most of Mexico, Morocco, northwest Africa, China, Pakistan, Siberia, and Australia. Wetter-than-average conditions – outside Europe – occurred in many regions of the United States, much of Australia, and large parts of South America from Central Asia to easternmost China.

Sea Surface temperature

The average sea surface temperature (SST) for November 2024 (over 60°S–60°N) was 20.58°C, the second highest value ever recorded for the month, and only 0.13°C lower than in November 2023. SSTs over the ocean remained unusually high in many regions. Antarctic sea ice extent reached its lowest monthly value for November, 10% below average.

Samantha Burgess, Deputy Director of the C3S: “We can now confirm with certainty that 2024 will be the hottest year on record. […] This doesn’t mean the Paris Climate Agreement has been violated, but it does mean that ambitious climate action is more urgent than ever.”

The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) publishes monthly climate bulletins on observed changes in global air and sea surface temperatures, sea ice cover, and hydrological variables. The data are based on billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft, and weather stations worldwide.