Climate Change

2020 set to be first or second warmest year on record

Scientists have concluded that this year's extreme heat would've been almost impossible without human-caused global warming. Image: REUTERS/David Mercado

Zeke Hausfather

US Analyst, Carbon Brief

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Rankings of 2020 temperatures by month across different datasets. Image: Carbon Brief
Average surface temperatures over the first six months of 2020 (January through June) from Berkeley Earth. Anomalies plotted with respect to a 1981-2010 baseline. Image: Carbon Brief
El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) forecast models for three-month periods in the Niño3.4 region (March, April, May – MAM – and so on). Image: CPC/IRI ENSO
Estimated probabilities of 2020’s temperature rank for each dataset, with the most likely outcome in bold. Note that these probabilities do not include measurement uncertainty for each record, just the best estimate. Image: Carbon Brief
Regions of the world with record warm temperatures (or record cold, if any were available) during the first six months of 2020. Image: Berkeley Earth
Siberia temperatures from 1850 through present, along with uncertainties (grey vertical lines). Image: Berkeley Earth

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Climate ChangeFuture of the EnvironmentThe Ocean

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