Scientists are reporting the hottest November on record –

By Glynn Wilson –

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — It’s a bit hard to write about the latest news on global warming and climate change when your fingers are just cold enough for the arthritis itch to tingle in your knuckles, the temperature gauge outside says it’s well below freezing, and millions of people are still getting sick and dying from COVID-19.

It’s also hard to write about the situation in the United States since the Trump administration won’t talk about the facts or let the federal agencies charged with reporting the latest numbers put them out online or report by email.

But let’s see if we’ve got this straight.

According to the Copernicus Climate Change Service, a program of the European Commission, the most recent data shows that this November was the hottest on record.

Projections for the year are on track to show that 2020 may rival 2016 as the hottest year ever, even with a massive drop in travel and carbon emissions around the globe in the spring due to the coronavirus pandemic and economic slowdowns.

“Globally, last month was the warmest November on record, by a clear margin,” the service says in the summary of its latest bulletin. “For Europe, November tied for second warmest on record.”

As for the Arctic, data shows the second lowest extent of sea ice accumulation for November since satellite measurements began in 1979. The Antarctic levels of sea ice came in close to average, “but with large regional variability.”

“Much of the globe experienced drier-than-average conditions with below average precipitation, including most of Europe,” the report shows. “However, there were notable wetter-than-average (readings) in some regions, especially areas of (eastern) North America and the Philippines affected by tropical storms.”

Yes, it rained a lot in the Eastern U.S. this year, even as the drought continued in the west with wildfires raging out of control from Colorado to Oregon and down through California.

Over Europe as a whole, October was the warmest on record, with temperatures 1.6 degrees Celsius above the 1981-2010 average. Although Western Europe was wetter and very stormy, with Storm Alex sweeping across the region, causing destruction, flooding, and claiming lives in France, Italy, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic.

October also saw a record low in Arctic sea ice extent, showing that the ice at the poles is melting as the planet and oceans warm, leading to a gradual rise in sea levels.

As the Washington Post reported this morning, scientists have linked most, if not all, of the global warming in recent decades to human emissions of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation, although the paper didn’t make that as clear as it could have.

According to Copernicus scientists, global average temperatures during November were 1.4 degrees (0.77 Celsius) above 1981-2010 levels, beating the previous warmest November by a large margin.

Australia had its hottest November ever, with severe heat waves and massive wildfires. Persistently above-average temperatures continued in Siberia and the Arctic. Norway, Sweden and England set national records for their hottest November too, according to the report released Monday.

Cooler-than-average temperatures were seen in parts of Africa, Kazakhstan, Canada, West Antarctica and parts of the tropical Pacific Ocean, where a La Niña event is underway.

The presence of La Niña tends to put a damper on global average surface temperatures, and the fact 2020 is headed toward a record or near-record finish anyway can be viewed as an indication of global warming’s increasingly overt influence. Each La Niña year is turning out warmer than the last, as is each El Niño year.

“Record warm years have usually coincided with a strong El Niño event, as was the case in 2016,” World Meteorological Organization Secretary General Petteri Taalas said in a statement issued on Dec. 2. “We are now experiencing a La Niña, which has a cooling effect on global temperatures, but has not been sufficient to put a brake on this year’s heat. Despite the current La Niña conditions, this year has already shown near record heat comparable to the previous record of 2016.”

It’s “almost certain” that 2020 will be Europe’s hottest calendar year, Copernicus stated in its report, noting the continent had its hottest fall season by a large margin, beating the previous record year of 2006.

The year 2016 still holds the record for hottest year ever, boosted by an unusually strong El Niño with above-average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific.

Copernicus found that for the year-to-date, 2020 and 2016 are showing nearly the same amount of unusual warmth. Given that November 2020 had a higher temperature anomaly than December 2016 did, Copernicus says, “it would take a large but not unprecedented fall” in global average temperature departures from average between November and December for 2020 to turn out anything other than “similar to or even marginally warmer than 2016.”

In the coming weeks, other agencies will find a way to report their monthly and annual averages, even the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA, where science is expected to gradually return to normal once Democrat Joe Biden is sworn in as president and appoints new administrators in charge of the federal agencies to replace the anti-science Trump appointees, and as Mr. Trump himself vacates the White House and heads for Mar-A-Lago in Florida.

“There is near unanimity among climate scientists about the specifics of the long-term warming trend, as well as its causes and increasingly devastating consequences,” according to the Post.

Even as the pandemic raged and economic activity slowed this year, the onslaught of extreme weather events tied to climate change continued. That includes devastating wildfires across Australia and California’s worst wildfire season on record, which is still underway.

“Parts of Siberia previously off-limits to wildfire early in the spring and in the fall have burned this year as well.”

The most active Atlantic hurricane season on record happened on the Eastern Seaboard and the Gulf Coast, which included several major hurricanes of Category 3 and above strength that rapidly gained speed and intensity at landfall, a trend linked to warming ocean temperatures.

A U.N. report released last week found the past six years, including 2020, are likely to be the six warmest on record, while 2020 is almost guaranteed a spot among the top three warmest years. The U.N. report also found the decade ending in 2020 will rank as the world’s warmest.

“While monthly temperature data are watched closely and can provide an indication of short-term fluctuations amid long-term trends, scientists look to climate trends across longer periods to discern the pace and severity of global warming,” the Post reports. “The instrument records, which began in the late 19th century, are striking, painting a picture of a rapidly warming planet.”

Paleoclimate records, such as cores drilled into ice sheets, tree rings and other sources of clues into ancient climate, show an even sharper rise in recent temperatures compared to the conditions in which human civilization has thrived.

According to other sources tapping into the latest data, even the Bayer aspirin company, which comes up prominently in Bing searches for climate change, have things to say about the impact of global warming on public health and the economy.

“It isn’t invisible. It isn’t abstract. It isn’t far off in the future, or far off in a different country,” the company says right on the front page of its website. “Climate change is here.”

“It’s not only in the Arctic Circle, or barrier reefs, but on the farm,” it says. “And it has the potential to make your next masked trip to the grocery store even more uncomfortable. If climate change goes unaddressed, food prices could rise, availability could drop and the consequence, especially for those that are most vulnerable, could be limited access to food.”

But progress is being made, it says.

“Farmers and scientists are working together to help mitigate the effects of climate change, help make farms more resilient, and keep our food supply affordable and reliable.”

Will it be enough? After much of the world is vaccinated against the coronavirus, maybe in the summer of 2021, and the Biden administration rejoins the international effort to combat climate change, it will be a race bigger and more expensive than the space race to see if science, government and business can deliver on solutions to keep life livable on planet Earth.