Warmest November Ever !
November 2020 Temperature Variations Compared to Prior Decades
November was the warmest month since global temperature records began in 1880. Weather records keep being broken. It’s become so routine, that perhaps it’s starting to seem normal.
These maps using data from the European and American satellite data compare worldwide temperatures last month, to the mean for the last three decades, in order to average out any spikes and anomalies. Warmer variations (“anomalies”) are in red; cooling is in blue.
Temperatures in Siberia and the high Arctic are shown in dark red, indicating an average 7 degrees Celsius — 12.6 degrees Fahrenheit — above the three decade recent reference period. That’s HUGE.
The graphic below gives a polar view which is also quite useful. If you’re having trouble with the polar perspective, Siberia is at the top, the 12 o’clock position. (Can you locate Greenland? Scandinavia? Alaska?)
November 2020 Temperature Variation Compared to Last Three Decades (Zachary Labe)
There are many ways to analyze and view temperature data. For the brief perspective here, I will just point out that global average temperature is now roughly one degree Celsius (1.8 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than before the industrial era, with the burning of fossil fuels. But averages can mislead.
In the Arctic, the effect is triple the global average. That’s where the sea ice is disappearing, turning that fifteen percent of the planet from bright white, to dark blue. That reduces the reflected sunlight, putting gargantuan amounts of added heat into the sea, which in turn melts more ice — one of the feedback loops. More warming, melts the sea ice cover, causing the oceans to absorb more heat, which melts more ice….
We must get off fossil fuels ASAP to curb the warming. Even with the most optimistic scenarios however, the excess heat already stored in the sea will be with us for a LONG time, affecting weather patterns, melting ice, and raising global sea level. Welcome to the new normal.