May was the warmest on record, NASA confirms

In some regions of Italy the month of May was more “clement” from the point of view of temperatures compared to what was recorded in 2023. The same, however, cannot be said for the entire country and, more generally, for the temperatures detected globally: according to a NASA report, in fact, also May was “the warmest May” on record. And so ends an entire record-breaking year, given that all the past 12 months, starting from June 2023, have respectively been the warmest since the late 1800s, when we started keeping track of this parameter.

This is actually the confirmation of a trend that has already been occurring for some time: in fact, according to NASA measurements, 2023 was the tenth consecutive year to break temperature records since the late 1800s. “We’re experiencing more warm days, more warm months, more warm years,” he explains Kate Calvinchief scientist and senior climate advisor at NASA, and the causes are clear: “We know that these increase in temperature they are caused by ours greenhouse gas emissions and they are having an impact on people and ecosystems around the world”, continues the expert.

NASA scientists collect temperature data through tens of thousands of weather stations on land and thousands of instruments placed on ships or buoys floating on the surface of seas and oceans. According to these findings and subsequent analyzes of the raw data thus collected, the average global temperature of the last 12 months has exceeded that relating to the period 1951-1980 by approximately 1.3°C.

The climatic phenomenon known as El Niño has partially contributed to raising the average global temperatures of the past months. It is a cyclical phenomenon that occurs on average every 2-7 years alternating with its counterpart, La Nina. The periodic succession of these two phenomena is known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO. El Niño causes the warming of the surface waters of some areas of the Pacific Ocean and during the months dominated by its presence higher average temperatures are typically recorded compared to those that characterize the months in which La Niña occurs. The last El Niño began between May and June 2023 and reached its maximum in December. According to World Meteorological Organization (WMO) of the United Nations, it was one of the five most intense ever recorded. We are currently in the “ENSO-neutral” condition and scientists from the US NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) estimate that La Niña will begin between July and September of this year with a probability of 65%.

This could partly contribute to reducing average global temperatures in the coming months, but experts are quick to point out that La Niña will certainly not be a solution to the phenomenon of climate change currently underway: “The climate will continue to be more extreme due to excess heat and moisture in the atmosphere,” he concludes Ko BarrettDeputy Secretary General of the WMO: “The end of El Niño does not mean a pause in long-term climate change, as our planet will continue to warm due to greenhouse gases.”

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