Report: Last month was hottest October on record globally

(WTXL) — Last month was the hottest ever October on record globally and the fifth straight month with record or near-record heat.

According to a new analysis from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, October was 0.69°C warmer than the average October from 1981-2010, making it by a narrow margin the warmest October in this data record.

Global average surface temperatures were 1.24 degrees above average when compared to the 1981-2010 average, and 0.02 degrees above the 2015 record. The month was a solid 0.2 degrees above the third-warmest October, which occurred in 2017.

According to Copernicus, temperatures averaged over the twelve-month period from November 2018 to October 2019 were:

• Much above the 1981-2010 average over most of the Arctic, peaking over and near Alaska and over the central parts of northern Siberia;
• Above average over virtually all of Europe;
• Above average over most other areas of land and ocean, especially so over north-eastern China, the Middle East, south-east Asia, Australia, southern Africa and some parts of the Antarctic;
• Below average over some land and oceanic areas, most notably over the North American prairies.

The report comes a day after the Trump administration began the process to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accord. That pact involves nearly 200 countries who set their own national targets for reducing or controlling pollution of heat-trapping gases.