The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), implemented by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) on behalf of the European Union, routinely publishes monthly climate bulletins reporting on the changes observed in global surface air temperature and other climate variables. All the reported findings are based on computer-generated analyses using billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.
To mark the end of this year’s summer season, C3S reveals its findings regarding summer temperatures, August temperatures and trendsconcerning the last 12-month period.
The last 12 months – September 2018 to August 2019
Running twelve-month averages of global-mean and European-mean surface air temperature anomalies relative to 1981-2010, based on monthly values from January 1979 to August 2019. The darker coloured bars are the averages for each of the calendar years from 1979 to 2018. Data source: ERA5. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF.
- In the last 12 months, temperatures were above average over almost all of Europe
- Below average temperatures in this time period were registered in several land and oceanic areas, including much of Canada and central USA, parts of the North Atlantic and South Pacific, over parts of the Himalayan range and central China, and to the south-west of Australia
- The spread in the global averages from various temperature datasets has been unusually large over the past two or more years
- Averaging over twelve-month periods levels out the shorter-term variations
- Globally, the twelve-month period from September 2018 to August 2019 was 0.54°C warmer than the 1981-2010 average.
C3S boreal summer review (June-August) 2019
Summer (June-August) averages of European-mean surface air temperature anomalies relative to 1981-2010 from 1979 to 2019. Data source: ERA5. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change
- The June-August average temperature for Europe was close to 1.1ºC above the 1981-2010 norm, making it the fourth warmest summer since at least 1979
- The Boreal summer saw above average temperatures over most continents
- Europe saw its warmest June on record by a large margin, followed by a close-to-average July and an above-average August
- The Long-term warming trend continues
August 2019 surface air temperature
Surface air temperature anomaly for August 2019 relative to the August average for the period 1981-2010. Data source: ERA5. Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service/ECMWF
- Global temperature was substantially above average in August 2019
- August was 0.53°C warmer than the average August from 1981-2010, making it the second warmest August in this data record
- August was only about 0.04°C colder than August 2016, the warmest August in this data record
SOURCE: European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts