Welcome to already the 4th edition of our “Climate Figure of the Day” series! Every day, I’ll be sharing a climate or climate change related figure. It might be a graph, a map, or another visual. It might be my own creation or sourced elsewhere. The figures will be posted on Twitter/X.com too, under the hashtag #ClimateFigureOfTheDay. While Twitter gives you a snapshot, here on my website, every now and then, I might delve a bit deeper into the details. Want to stay updated? Be sure to follow me on Twitter/X.com here.
22 November
Over the past days the daily global temperature surpassed 2°C above the pre-industrial level. Not yet a definitive (long term) breach, but it still shows our climate is warming rapidly.
21 November
The lowest temperatures are rising the fastests. Longyearbyen’s coldest days have warmed faster than the monthly averages: approximately 1.30°C/decade in October and 1.60°C/decade in November.
17 November
Not only in Scandinavia, also on Svalbard the temperature has remained below the norm for a while. Despite the world currently being very warm (World: 1.2°C above the 1979-2000 baseline, Northern Hemisphere 1.78°C above the baseline), #cold weather has been persistent in Europe’s high north.
After a relatively cold October and November (cold compared to recent years, not compared to a longer historical context), November also started off remarkably chilly. However, the warm weather will not continue.
15 November
13 November
12 November
10 November
Globally, October was the warmest on record and shattered its previous record: October 2023 was 0.40°C warmer than the previous warmest October, in 2019.
In Europe, October 2023 was the 4th warmest on record.
8, 9 November
Ice days were once a semi-regular occurence in Helsinki in October, now there hasn’t been one for 2 decades. Even in this colder-than-normal October, an ice-day did not occur.
In the 2nd tweet, from the 9th of November, we see that Fennoscandia was one of very few places that was colder than average during October. And keep in mind that the reference period (1981-2010) itself has already warmed.
7 November
Compared to recent years and the trend line, last October saw relatively many frost days in Helsinki. However, the long term trend is clear: frost in October is becoming more rare.
4 November
Even in a warming climate and even when the globe is record warm, relatively cool weather might still occur. Here’s an example of Helsinki, where October was 1°C below the climatological norm (1991-2020). Nevertheless, there’s a clear upward trend in october temperatures in Helsinki.
3 November
October was record-shatteringly warm, globally. It is the 3rd largest margin ever recorded, for a record warm month to break it’s previous record, following the even more extreme record-shattering event of September.
2 November
De Bilt also recorded the 6th warmest October ever on record during the past month. It is not a coincidence the wettest month on record (see previous Climate Figure Of The Day) co-occurs with a very warm month. Warmer air can hold much more water vapor than cold air. So when it rains, it rains more.
Climate Figure of The Day, 1 November
October was the wettest on record in De Bilt, The Netherlands primary weather station.
For earlier Climate Figures of The Day, I refer you to these links below:
Climate Figure of The Day October: click here.
