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Monday, March 18, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

North America Wilted in Hottest September on Record

September was the warmest ever recorded in North America and the rest of the planet tied a record for the hottest September ever, according to a global climate report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday.

(CN) – September was the warmest ever recorded in North America and the rest of the planet tied a record for the hottest September ever, according to a global climate report released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Wednesday.

“The average global land and ocean surface temperature for September 2019 was 1.71 degrees F above the 20th-century average and tied 2015 as the highest September temperature departure from average since global records began in 1880,” the report states.

North America accounted for much of the variation toward the warmer end of the spectrum, but Africa experienced its second-warmest September on record while Asia and South America both experienced their third warmest.

September was also the 417th consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th century average.

Besides the record temperatures, climatologists reported sea ice coverage is also concerningly low at both poles. In the Arctic Sea, ice extent was at its third-lowest ebb since records began approximately 40 years ago.

“The Arctic sea ice extent for September 2019 was the third lowest on record at 807,000 square miles (32.6%) below the 1981–2010 average and 290,000 square miles above the record low September sea ice extent set in 2012,” the report states.

NOAA uses data from NASA and the National Snow and Ice Data Center to measure sea ice extent.

At the South Pole, the news was better as Antarctic sea ice stretched out to cover 100,000 square miles, the 13th lowest in the 40-year record – only 1.3% below the average.

The most notable temperature departures in North America occurred in Alaska and Central Canada, where average temperatures over the month were about 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit above average. Russia also experienced significant temperature spikes.

Southern Canada and the contiguous United States around Minnesota and through the Dakotas experienced cooler temperatures than normal, however.

When looked at from a January through September lens, much of North and South America, the southern half of Africa and parts of Australia, Madagascar, the Atlantic Ocean, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific Ocean set records for warm temperatures.

Earth saw no records set for cool temperatures during the same period.

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Categories / Environment

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