Earth's climate system is broken: Past 7 years are the 7 warmest on record globally

Minnesota enjoyed a rare sunny and warm November this year. We’re part of a global trend that has produced the warmest November on record globally.

The geographic coverage of warmer than average air across the globe in November is remarkable. Most of the U.S., Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia have been significantly warmer than average this month. The few cool spots are mainly in Canada and Greenland.

Warmest year on record globally?

2020 will almost certainly wrap up as the warmest or second warmest year on record globally.

That means the past 7 years are the 7 warmest years on record globally. 2019 was the second warmest year on record globally.

Out of balance climate system

In a balanced climate system, we would expect a mix of warmer and cooler than average years. Earth’s climate system doesn’t even resemble anything close to “balanced” in the past two decades. Each new monthly data set makes it increasingly clear that Earth’s climate system has fundamentally changed in the past 25 years.

Minnesota: Rare sunny November

November is typically the cloudiest month of the year in Minnesota. We average just 39 percent of possible sunshine this month.

But this has been a rare sunny November in Minnesota. By my count, we’ve had 18 days this month with abundant sunshine. That’s about 60 percent sunny days. I can’t recall November this sunny in Minnesota.

Midwest warmth

November temperatures are running 5.2 degrees warmer than average in the Twin Cities through November 29. Most of the Upper Midwest is running between 3 and 7 degrees above average this month.

Final numbers will come in tomorrow. But it looks like this could be among the 15 warmest Novembers on record in the Twin Cities since the late 1800s.