Hottest September Since 1880
October 20, 2020
Sustained high temps around the world in September 2020 made it the hottest September since 1880, according to scientists at NOAA. September’s performance helped make year-to-date 2020 the second highest in the 141-year climate record.
The average global temperature in September was 1.75 degrees F above the 20th-century average of 59.0 degrees F. This surpasses the average global temperatures for both September 2015 and 2016 by 0.04 of a degree F, which previously tied for the hottest Septembers on record.
The ten warmest Septembers have all occurred since 2005, with the top seven Septembers occurring in the last seven years.
The year-to-date average global temperature was the second hottest on record at 1.84 degrees F above the 20th-century average. This is only 0.07 of a degree shy of the record set for the same period in 2016.