2024 on pace to be world's warmest year on record
OCTOBER 31, 2024: A view of Mount Fuji in Yamanakako Village, Japan. As of late October, Japan's iconic Mount Fuji had yet to receive any snowfall this year, marking the latest date without snow since the Japan Meteorological Agency’s records began 130 years ago. October 2024 was Earth’s second-warmest October in NOAA’s 175-year record. (Image credit: Getty Images)
Earth saw another unusually warm month, with October 2024 ranking as the second-warmest October in NOAA’s 175-year global climate record.
October also added another balmy month to 2024, which is almost certainly going to be Earth’s warmest year on record, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
Below are more highlights from NOAA’s October global climate report:
Climate by the numbers
October 2024
The average global temperature for October was 2.38 degrees F (1.32 degrees C) above the 20th-century average of 57.2 degrees F (14.0 degrees C), ranking as the world’s second-warmest October on record — just 0.09 of a degree F (0.05 of a degree C) cooler than the record-warm October 2023.
Regionally, North America had its warmest October on record while South America and Oceania each had their second-warmest October.
The year to date (YTD, January through October 2024)
The YTD global surface temperature was 2.30 degrees F (1.28 degrees C) above the 20th-century average, making it the warmest such period on record. Africa, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America each had their warmest such YTD period.
According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Outlook, there is a greater than 99% chance that 2024 will rank as the world’s warmest year on record.
Other notable climate events
Last month set a record for October sea ice extent. October’s global sea ice extent (coverage) was the smallest in the 46-year record — 1.25 million square miles below the 1991–2020 average. Arctic sea ice extent was below average (by 600,000 square miles), ranking fourth lowest on record, while Antarctic extent was also below average (by 650,000 square miles), ranking second lowest on record.
Eleven named tropical cyclones occurred across the globe. The Atlantic basin saw five tropical cyclones during October, including Hurricane Milton, which peaked as a Category 5 storm and made landfall just south of Tampa Bay. Through the end of October there were 70 named year-to-date storms worldwide in 2024, totaling six less storms than the long-term average.
More > Access NOAA’s October global climate report and download the images.
