2024 almost certain to be globe’s warmest year
November 27, 2024: People watch as the sun rises over Ben Buckler Point in Sydney, Australia, during a severe November heatwave. Some locations around the state of New South Wales, Australia, saw high temperatures in the mid-to-upper 90s that week. Regionally, Oceania had its second-warmest November on record. (Image credit: Getty Images)
November 2024 was the planet’s second-warmest November in NOAA’s 175-year global climate record, just behind the record-warm November of 2023.
Last month also continued the year’s record-warm streak, with 2024 almost certain to end as the world’s warmest year on record, according to scientists and data from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
Below are more highlights from NOAA’s November global climate report:
Climate by the numbers
November 2024
The average global land and ocean surface temperature for November 2024 was 2.41 degrees F (1.34 degrees C) above the 20th-century average of 55.2 degrees F (12.9 degrees C), which makes it the second-warmest November on record — just 0.14 of a degree F (0.08 of a degree C) behind the record warmth of November 2023.
Asia had its warmest November on record, while Oceania and South America both had their second-warmest November.
The year to date (YTD, January through November 2024)
The year-to-date global land and ocean surface temperature was 2.30 degrees F (1.28 degrees C) above the 20th-century average, ranking as the warmest such YTD on record. Every continent had its warmest such YTD period on record, except for Asia, which had its second warmest.
According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Rankings Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2024 will rank as Earth’s warmest year on record.
Other notable climate events from November:
- November global sea ice extent (coverage) ranked second lowest on record: Looking at the poles, Arctic sea ice extent for November 2024 ranked as the third-lowest November extent on record, while Antarctic sea ice extent was the lowest on record for November.
- The tropics were very active: Twelve named storms occurred across the globe in November, which ties for the most on record. The Atlantic basin saw three tropical cyclones during November, including Hurricane Rafael, which peaked as a Category 3 storm. Through the end of November there were 82 named storms worldwide in 2024, which matches the long-term average.
More > Access NOAA’s November global climate report and download the images.
