Earth Crossed an Alarming Temperature Threshold Last Weekend

The global temperature exceeded two degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average for the first time on Friday and Saturday, according to the European Union's climate monitoring organization.

Importantly, this does not mean the 2.0-degree target to limit global warming set forth in the 2015 Paris Agreement has been breached.

"Our best estimate is that this was the first day when global temperature was more than 2°C above 1850-1900 (or pre-industrial) levels, at 2.06°C," wrote Sam Burgess, deputy director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

A subsequent update showed that Friday had an anomaly of 2.07 degrees, while Saturday followed at 2.06 degrees Celsius.

The daily temperature anomaly can fluctuate substantially, while longer-term climate targets like those in the Paris Agreement refer to temperature averages across years and decades.

Still, it is an alarming indicator of the accelerating impacts of climate change. The previous 12 months were the warmest such period in 125,000 years, and each of the last several months have set records for the warmest of that month in the historical record. The symbolism of crossing the two-degree threshold, even briefly, will add weight to the discussions at the COP28 climate summit, set to begin in ten days in Dubai.