As if 2020 needed anymore regrettable recognition, a new study has determined that last month was the hottest September ever, besting the previous high, which was set just last year, the New York Timesreports.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service found that last month topped the average for September 2019 by 0.05 degrees Celsius. Another organization known as The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration came to the same conclusion, despite conducting their calculations in a slightly different manner than Copernicus.
NOAA reaches their conclusions through studying surface temperatures, while Copernicus relies on computer modeling.
"Even though the details of the report are different, they all come to the same conclusion that the global temperatures are increasing," Ahira Sánchez-Lugo, a physical scientist for NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, said. Sanchez-Lugo concludes these record highs are due to a combination of global warming from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas, but human-caused warming sticks out as the biggest factor for these continual upticks in temperature.
In fact, the last seven Septembers have been the hottest seven on record.
NOAA predicts 2020 has a 99.9 percent chance of becoming one of the top five hottest years on record, and a 64.7 percent chance of surpassing 2016 to earn the title of the hottest year ever recorded.
