Global Thermometer Breaks Record

Global 2m surface temperature anomalies:1940-2023 vs. the 1850-1900 IPCC baseline (source Prof. Eliot Jacobson)

It's late on a Sunday night. I shouldn't write now, but I have to share a staggering statistic: yesterday, for the first time in recorded history, the global 2m surface temperature breached 2.0 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 baseline.

This should have been the banner headline across every major newspaper worldwide, but -no surprises here- the world didn't pay attention.

Another climate record shattered, scientists and their followers search for expressions to convey their deep concerns, all while the world nonchalantly sleepwalks into an oven set on its surround grill function.

Does this signify a breach of the Paris Agreement's upper limit?

No, it doesn't. It may be in the future if we keep pumping more greenhouse gasses into our atmosphere, but what happened now was only a short breaching on the 2 degrees Celsius mark. Even if this persists for a month or a year, it doesn't categorically breach the established trend line. The possibility of avoiding an infringement on the more stringent 1.5-degree threshold still exists, provided we act decisively.