C3S: November 2020 was the warmest November on record by a clear margin

The Copernicus Climate Change Service, one of the six thematic services provided by the European Union's Copernicus Programme, has released a report regarding surface air temperature for November 2020.

“Temperatures were most above the 1981-2010 average over a large region covering much of northern Europe, Siberia and the Arctic Ocean, while temperatures were most below average over central Asia and West Antarctica,” the report said.

“November 2020 was warmer than the 1981-2010 average for the month over almost all of Europe. Temperatures were considerably higher than average over the Alps and the north of the continent. Norway had its joint warmest November in a data series reaching back to 1900. Sweden and Finland also saw records broken. Conditions were close to or a little cooler than average only in parts of the south-east of the continent.”

The report underlined that temperatures were exceptionally high for November over a large region covering much of Siberia, the Arctic Ocean and bordering coastal seas, extending into western and northern Alaska and the far north-west of Canada.

“Temperatures were also substantially higher than average over the Tibetan Plateau and East Antarctica,” the report noted.

The report continued as follows: “Heatwaves were experienced in parts of Australia during November 2020, and the month was the warmest November on record for the country as a whole. Heatwaves were also reported in Malawi and Mozambique, and it was generally warmer than average over much of southern, central and western Africa. Temperatures were also several degrees higher than normal east of the Andes, over a region stretching from Peru to Patagonia. Most of the USA and southern Canada was significantly milder than usual for late autumn, with many local temperature records broken in the central and eastern regions. Florida, New Mexico and Arizona experienced unusually high temperatures, states for which the January-to-October average temperatures for 2020 were the highest on record.”

“Temperatures were below average over a region extending from the Central Asian Republics to Pakistan and northern India, by more than 5°C west of Lake Balkhash in Kazakhstan. It was also colder than usual by a similar amount over West Antartica. Temperatures were also below average over parts of Canada, Greenland and North Africa, and over coastal Brazil and the far south-west of Australia.”

“Air temperatures remained relatively high over the North Pacific Ocean and off the eastern seaboard of North America. Marine air temperatures were also well above average east of Argentina, and also above average over most of the Indian Ocean, the western Pacific and around most of Australia. Relatively cool La Niña conditions persisted over the tropical eastern Pacific, and temperatures were below average in several places over the extratropical oceans of the Southern Hemisphere and over part of the North Atlantic,” the report added. (ILKHA)