2023 Has 50% Chance of Becoming the Hottest Year on Record: NOAA Says

2023 is on the road of becoming the hottest year on record, with temperatures that could exceed those from the previous year. This is according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which predicted that there is a nearly 50% chance this year may reach such a feat. Earlier this year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration also predicted that 2023 could become the warmest year since recordings started in 1850.

The latest NOAA report comes as a massive heatwave gripped the United States and other parts of the Northern Hemisphere, including Europe and China. Since the summer season started in June, the U.S. recorded scorching temperatures in the southern half of the country, with heat alerts affecting millions of Americans. Florida and its adjacent states in the Southeast also experienced intense heat in recent weeks.

Hottest Year on Record

The said prediction is based on the global surface temperature of 1.03 degrees Celsius (1.85 degrees Fahrenheit) from January to July this year, which is above the temperature between 1901 and 2000. During the first seven months of 2023, the ocean surface temperature ranked the second warmest on record, according to the NOAA.

The warmer-than-average conditions this year have been recorded in most post parts of North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Oceania, and Asia, except for small pockets of area near India and Pakistan, the U.S. government agency says. Meanwhile, sea surface temperatures were also above normal in some parts of the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean.

2023 Heatwave

The heatwave in previous months has evidently contributed to the above-normal temperatures this year. In addition to the extreme weather event, the El Nino climate phenomenon is also responsible for 2023 being on tracked to become the hottest year in modern history, according to reports.

On Monday, August 14, NASA stated that July 2023 is the hottest month on record since the year 1880, based on data analyzed by scientists at the U.S. space agency's Goddard Institute for Space Studies based in New York.

Last month's intense heat has been widespread it also caused drought conditions in different parts of the world. In the U.S., the end of July saw the occurrence of severe to extreme drought that affected 10% of the country, according to NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information.

Potential Repercussions

2023 becoming the hottest year on record is not only a title or part of meteorological statistics, but rather a significant phenomenon with potential real-world repercussions.

For instance, with scientific data finding that temperatures have exceeded those in previous years only confirms the continuous worsening of global warming amid the context of climate change.

If temperatures continue to spike in the coming months, extreme weather events such as heatwaves, droughts, and even storms could intensify in magnitudes never seen before in previous records. This drastic change in weather and climate conditions has been observed by authorities over the past decade.