France, Germany, Poland… The month of September largely breaks heat records across Europe

An endless summer? The year 2023 continues to set records in Europe, as in the rest of the world, under the effect of global warming. The month of September was the hottest ever measured in France, Germany, Poland and even Switzerland.

France experienced its hottest September on record, according to provisional data from Météo-France communicated at a press conference on Friday September 29. The month of September will end “between 3.5 and 3.6°C” above the reference period 1991-2020, “with an average temperature of 21.5°C” approximately, announced the French organization.

The finding is similar for September in Germany, with 3.9°C warmer than the 1961-1990 reference period, according to the national weather service DWD. In Poland, the IMiGW institute reports 3.6°C above normal, while Switzerland showed 3.8°C above the 1991-2020 norm in September. In Austria, the GeoSphere Austria institute reports 3.2°C above 1991-2020 in the plains, and 4.2°C in the mountains.

Towards an annual temperature record

These observations join those of the entire planet, on the way to breaking the annual temperature record in 2023. After having already recorded the hottest quarter in history during the boreal summer (June-July-August), the world is seeing the effects of climate change caused by humanity and reinforced in recent months by the return, to above the Pacific, of the cyclical El Nino phenomenon.

The situation is accompanied by its procession of increasingly intense disasters: heatwaves, droughts, floods and fires have hit all continents over this period, often in dramatic proportions.