The year 2025, among the three warmest years ever recorded

2025-11-07 08:21:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

October 2025 was the third warmest month ever recorded globally, according to data from the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).

The month recorded an average surface air temperature of 15.14°C, 0.70°C above the 1991-2020 October average, according to ERA5 data, which uses billions of measurements from satellites, ships, aircraft and weather stations around the world.

C3S now says that 2025 is virtually certain to end up as the second or third warmest year on record, possibly equaling 2023, the current second warmest year, and trailing 2024, the warmest year on record.

Copernicus says the findings reflect the accelerating pace of climate change, which is raising global temperatures as the burning of fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases that trap heat in the atmosphere. Global warming is also reducing low-level cloud cover, which is causing temperatures to rise.

'We are now in the decade where the 1.5°C limit is likely to be exceeded'

October 2025 was only 0.16°C colder than the warmest October ever recorded, in 2023, and 0.11°C colder than October 2024.

The month was 1.55°C above the estimated 1850-1900 average used to define the pre-industrial level. This makes it the first month above 1.50°C since April 2025.

While 2025 may not reach 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, the global average temperature for 2023–2025 is likely to exceed 1.5°C. According to Copernicus, this would make it the first three-year average to reach this since the beginning of weather records, a time frame known as the instrumental period that begins in the 18th century when climate information began to be collected using scientific instruments.

“We are now in the decade where the 1.5°C limit is likely to be exceeded, highlighting the accelerating pace of climate change and the urgent need for action,” said Samantha Burgess, Strategic Lead for Climate at Copernicus.

Fennoscandia had the highest above-average air temperatures in Europe.

The average European land surface temperature for October 2025 was 10.19°C, 0.60°C above the 1991-2020 October average, ranking outside the top ten warmest places ever recorded.

The most pronounced above-average air temperatures for Europe were recorded over Fennoscandia and the southern Iberian Peninsula.

Below-average temperatures were experienced mainly in Southeastern Europe.

Outside Europe, temperatures were higher than average in polar regions, particularly over northeastern Canada, the central Arctic Ocean and East Antarctica.

A large region with pronounced negative temperature anomalies covered most of southern and eastern Russia and Mongolia, as well as eastern parts of Kazakhstan and northernmost China.

Europe experienced record sea surface temperatures

The average sea surface temperature (SST) for October 2025, excluding polar regions, was 20.54°C, the third highest value ever recorded for this month.

Much of the North Pacific continued to experience above-average SSTs, with record levels in the west. In contrast, SSTs were near or below the 1991-2020 average in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific, reflecting a shift toward weak La Niña conditions.

The European sector of the Arctic Ocean saw SSTs much higher than the record-breaking ones, as did the eastern Indian Ocean, off the coast of Indonesia.

In the Arctic, the average sea ice extent in October was 12 percent below average, ranking eighth lowest for the month.

At the regional level, sea ice concentrations were below average in the Eurasian sector of the Arctic Ocean, particularly north of Franz Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya, coinciding with well-above-average surface air temperatures.

In the Antarctic region, monthly sea ice extent was the third lowest for October, at 6 percent below average.

Sea ice concentrations around Antarctica were below average in the Bellingshausen Sea and in the Indian Ocean sector, the latter coinciding with well-above-average surface air temperatures in the adjacent East Antarctica./ CNA