Earth saw ninth-warmest November on record
A map of the world plotted with some of the most significant climate events that occurred during November 2022. Graphic: NOAA/NCEI
NOAA – Last month was another unusually warm month, as the planet saw its ninth-warmest November on record, according to data compiled by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
Looking at the Arctic and Antarctic, both poles had their top-10 lowest November sea ice coverage on record.
The average global land and ocean surface temperature for November 2022 was 0.76 of a degree Celsius above the 20th-century average. This ranks as the ninth-warmest November in 143 years, but the coolest November since 2014.
November 2022 marked the 46th consecutive November and the 455th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average.
Europe tied 2000 for its third-warmest November on record. South America, Asia and Africa each had a November that ranked among their 20 warmest on record. North America had a warmer-than-average November, but it did not rank among its top-20 warmest.
The season (meteorological spring or autumn, depending on the hemisphere) saw an average global land and ocean temperature of 0.84 of a degree C above the average of 14 degrees C. This ties with September through November of 2016 and 2018 as the fifth-warmest such season in the climate record.
The year to date (YTD, January through November) global land and ocean surface temperature was 0.86 of a degree C above the 20th-century average, making it the sixth-warmest YTD on record.
According to the National Centers for Environmental Information’s (NCEI) Global Annual Temperature Rankings Outlook, there is a greater than 99 per cent chance that 2022 will rank among the 10 warmest years on record, but a less than one per cent chance that it will rank among the top five.
Globally, November 2022 saw the fourth-lowest November sea ice extent (coverage) on record. Arctic sea ice extent in November averaged 9.71 million square kilometres, which is more than 427,000 square km below the 1991 to 2020 average. This marks the eighth-smallest November extent in the 44-year record. The Antarctic sea ice extent ranked fifth-smallest on record at 15.05 million square km, or about 81,0070 square km below the 1991 to 2020 average.
Six named tropical storms formed in November. Of those six, four reached tropical cyclone strength (119 kilometre per hour winds or higher), but none reached major tropical cyclone strength (178.7 kph winds or higher). The North Atlantic, with three hurricanes, was more active than normal during November. The West Pacific had below average activity for the month with two named storms, including one typhoon. No storms were active in the East Pacific during November for the first time since 2017.
