2023 is the hottest year on record

Things started out slow. January 2023 was warmer than usual, but still only the seventh warmest January on record. (Image credit: AFP)

By May, things were heating up. Halfway through the year, temperatures became extraordinary. (Image credit: AFP)

June registered as the warmest June on record since scientists began keeping track in the mid-19th century. (Image credit: AFP)

July broke the monthly record as well. (Image credit: AFP)

August too broke the monthly record as temperatures soared. (Image credit: AFP)

September 2023 wasn’t simply the warmest September on record, but “far and away the most atypically warm month of any in NOAA’s 174 years of climate keeping,” said U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist Sarah Kapnick. (Image credit: AFP)

October was the fifth consecutive record-breaker, sealing the fate for 2023 to be declared as the warmest year ever recorded. (Image credit: AFP)