Second-warmest November on record means that 2024 is likely to be Earth's hottest year, report says

Earth just experienced its second-warmest November on record — second only to 2023 — making it all but certain that 2024 will end as the hottest year ever measured, according to a report Monday by European climate service Copernicus.

Last year was the hottest on record due to human-caused climate change coupled with the effects of an El Nino. But after this summer registered as the hottest on record — Phoenix sweltered through 113 consecutive days with a high temperature of at least 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius) — scientists were anticipating that 2024 would set a new annual record as well.

In November, global temperatures averaged 14.10C (57.38F). Last year's global average temperature was 14.98C (59F). Through November, this year's average global temperature is 0.14C (32F) above the same period last year.

Jennifer Francis, a climate scientist at the Woodwell Climate Research Center in Cape Cod, who wasn't involved in the report, said the big story about November is that “like 2023, it beat out previous Novembers by a large margin.”