Global temperatures: third warmest October on record

Global temperatures: third warmest October on record
Credit: Canva

Global temperatures in October 2021 were the third warmest on record after 2015 and 2019, according to the monthly update from the Copernicus Climate Change Service.

In October, global surface temperatures were 0.42 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average, Belga News Agency reports.

Northern Canada, Russia and East Antarctica were much warmer than average.

Surface air temperature for October 2021 relative to the October average for the period 1991-2020. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF.

While the north and south-west of Europe were slightly warmer than average, other parts of the continent saw colder temperatures.

Belgium, for one, saw a colder month, with temperatures at the Royal Meteorological Institute (RMI) in Uccle varying between 4.2°C (21 October) and 18.9°C (19 October).

“This is the lowest maximum temperature for an October since 2003 (18.3°C). Another remarkable fact is that this is only the fourth time since 2003 that this value is below 20°C. The other years were 2007 (19.3°C), 2009 and 2016 (19.9°C each),” the RMI notes in the report.

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Conditions were also colder in southern and south-eastern Europe. "European-average temperature anomalies are generally larger and more variable than global anomalies," Copernicus explained in the release. "The European-average temperature for October 2021 was the coolest for the month of October since 2016 and was close (0.11°C above) to the 1991-2020 average."

The same month also saw drier weather in the majority of Central and Eastern European countries. In contrast, the northern and north-western countries experienced wetter weather.

Copernicus also indicates that in October 2021, sea ice in the Arctic was 7% below average, making it the ninth-lowest value recorded by satellite data in the last 43 years, but well above the very low extent of October 2020.


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