Last year was the hottest on record, averaging 1.48°C warmer than the period before people started burning fossil fuels, according to data from Copernicus.
The EU's Earth observation programme said the global average temperature throughout the year was 14.98°C, overtaking 2016, the previous warmest year, by “a large margin”.
That was 0.17°C higher than in 2016 and 1.48°C warmer than the 1850-1900 pre-industrial level, putting it perilously close to the world’s target to restrain the global temperature rise to 1.5°C above pre-industrial level to limit the impact of heatwaves, drought, flooding and other calamities that result from climate change.
Copernicus, an EU programme aimed at developing European information services based on satellite data, said temperature averages reached more than 2°C above pre-industrial levels – the upper limit of a threshold set by the Paris Agreement in 2015 – on two occasions.
The data shows about half of the days throughout the year were more than 1.5°C warmer than the 1850-1900 level. And two days in November were, for the first time, more than 2°C warmer.
Forecasters had previously tipped the year to finish at an average of 1.2°C above pre-industrial levels.
Akshay Deoras, a research scientist at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science and the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading, told The National the fact so many days were 1.5°C or above the pre-industrial average was concerning and further proof greenhouse gases were worsening climate change.
“If this happens on a few days in a year, that’s fine because there are anomalies,” he said.
“But given that so many days have seen unusual heat is concerning. That is telling you it is not a weather anomaly. It’s not related to [a natural] climate pattern.”
Samantha Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said 2023 was an exceptional year, “with climate records tumbling like dominoes”.
“Not only is 2023 the warmest year on record, it is also the first year with all days over 1°C warmer than the pre-industrial period,” she said.
“Temperatures during 2023 likely exceed those of any period in at least the last 100,000 years,” she said.
She told a press conference on Tuesday about the report that the world is likely to overshoot the target of 1.5°C of warming.
“That is basic physics of the system and the amount of warming that is locked into the system,” she told a press conference on Tuesday.
“However, the reality is that every single fraction of a degree matters and we know the warmer our atmosphere, the warmer our climate, the more intense and the more frequent the extreme events are.”
Greenhouse gas concentrations fuelled the record temperatures, but El Nino, which typically results in around 0.1°C of additional warming, plus record high surface ocean temperatures also played a part.
The data confirms predictions from the World Meteorological Organisation, which said a series of temperature records meant it was “virtually certain” that 2023 would become the hottest year on record.
A report from WMO found April through to October had record high monthly temperatures in the oceans, while July was the likely the hottest on land in the last 120,000 years.
The year had a string of natural disasters, including extreme flooding from Storm Daniel, which killed thousands of people in Libya, wildfires in Canada that burnt 18.5 million hectares – an area bigger than England and Wales – and severe drought in Uruguay that emptied its reservoirs and pushed the country close to running out of fresh water.
Annual average air temperatures were the warmest on record, or close to the warmest, over sizeable parts of all ocean basins and all continents except Australia, said Copernicus.
The data showed July and August 2023 were the warmest two months on record.
December was the warmest on record historically, with temperatures 1.78°C above the 1850-1900 level for the month.
Global average sea surface temperatures remained persistently and unusually high during the year, reaching record levels for the time of year from April through December.
Sea ice in the Antarctic was also at a record low.
This year could also be another record-breaking year.
It is “likely” a 12-month period ending in January or February of this year will exceed 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the weather service said.
The UK's Met Office also predicted average global temperatures could rise higher than 1.5°C throughout the year.
El Nino, a naturally occurring phenomenon in which heat rises in the tropical eastern Pacific Ocean, adding further heat to the atmosphere in 2023, is set to continue into spring.
“Historically, years following El Nino have been really hot, such as 2016 and so on, which means that this year in the first six months there is a very good possibility that we would continue to see individual months breaking previous records,” Mr Deoras told The National.
Climate models indicate La Nina – the periodic cooling of sea-surface temperatures across the east-central equatorial Pacific – may follow in the summer, resulting in colder-than-normal temperatures, albeit temporarily, he said.
“It used to happen in the past that whenever we had La Nina you could see a decline in the temperature for some time. But now that doesn't really happen,” said Mr Deoras.
“The whole thing is more and more driven by greenhouse gases. If La Nina happens, it will be interesting to see how much it can offset this additional heating which was there because of El Nino.
“The background pattern of greenhouse gases is still going to be dominating, which means you will continue to have at least some years in the next 10 years where previous records will be broken.”
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Lexus LX700h specs
Engine: 3.4-litre twin-turbo V6 plus supplementary electric motor
Power: 464hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 790Nm from 2,000-3,600rpm
Transmission: 10-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 11.7L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh590,000
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
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Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
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The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
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Dust and sand storms compared
Sand storm
- Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
- Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
- Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
- Travel distance: Limited
- Source: Open desert areas with strong winds
Dust storm
- Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
- Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
- Duration: Can linger for days
- Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
- Source: Can be carried from distant regions
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: four-litre V6 and 3.5-litre V6 twin-turbo
Transmission: six-speed and 10-speed
Power: 271 and 409 horsepower
Torque: 385 and 650Nm
Price: from Dh229,900 to Dh355,000
AI traffic lights to ease congestion at seven points to Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Street
The seven points are:
Shakhbout bin Sultan Street
Dhafeer Street
Hadbat Al Ghubainah Street (outbound)
Salama bint Butti Street
Al Dhafra Street
Rabdan Street
Umm Yifina Street exit (inbound)
Red flags
- Promises of high, fixed or 'guaranteed' returns.
- Unregulated structured products or complex investments often used to bypass traditional safeguards.
- Lack of clear information, vague language, no access to audited financials.
- Overseas companies targeting investors in other jurisdictions - this can make legal recovery difficult.
- Hard-selling tactics - creating urgency, offering 'exclusive' deals.
Courtesy: Carol Glynn, founder of Conscious Finance Coaching
'Munich: The Edge of War'
Director: Christian Schwochow
Starring: George MacKay, Jannis Niewohner, Jeremy Irons
Rating: 3/5
MATCH INFO
Uefa Nations League
League A, Group 4
Spain v England, 10.45pm (UAE)
Dates for the diary
To mark Bodytree’s 10th anniversary, the coming season will be filled with celebratory activities:
- September 21 Anyone interested in becoming a certified yoga instructor can sign up for a 250-hour course in Yoga Teacher Training with Jacquelene Sadek. It begins on September 21 and will take place over the course of six weekends.
- October 18 to 21 International yoga instructor, Yogi Nora, will be visiting Bodytree and offering classes.
- October 26 to November 4 International pilates instructor Courtney Miller will be on hand at the studio, offering classes.
- November 9 Bodytree is hosting a party to celebrate turning 10, and everyone is invited. Expect a day full of free classes on the grounds of the studio.
- December 11 Yogeswari, an advanced certified Jivamukti teacher, will be visiting the studio.
- February 2, 2018 Bodytree will host its 4th annual yoga market.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
War 2
Director: Ayan Mukerji
Stars: Hrithik Roshan, NTR, Kiara Advani, Ashutosh Rana
Rating: 2/5
