2023 on deck to be hottest year ever recorded

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY)– Summers are always hot, but things are heating up in the Cape Fear, and around the globe.

But what’s different about this summer compared to others?

Record-breaking temperatures are hitting several major cities around the world. According to the National Weather Service, this is a result of several environmental factors.

“The global temperatures are a combination of both long term and short-term factors,” said Tim Armstrong, NWS Wilmington Meteorologist. “Long term is climate change. We are pumping more and more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, trapping more heat, leading to rising global temperatures. We’ve seen that in a number of locations. The short-term factors are heat domes, or ridges of high pressure aloft.”

Not only are air temperatures the highest ever recorded in history, so are ocean temperatures. Which can be contributed to our current weather pattern, El Nino.

“We’ve entered into an El Nino, which means there’s a big warm water pool off the coast of South America, or actually the whole east coast of the America’s, and that’s usually a big factor in temperatures for us,” said Dennis Edgell, Professor of Geography at UNCP.

Although we’ve been spared of record highs in the Cape Fear lately, the National Weather Service in Wilmington says so far, 2023 is the hottest year on record in Wilmington.

“2023 as a year so far is actually the warmest ever recorded in history in Wilmington,” said Armstrong. “We have records that go back to 1874 for temperatures. The summer as a whole has not been the hottest, but we are expecting above normal temperatures to continue especially this weekend, but through the rest of the summer as well.”

And as we approach the peak of hurricane season, forecasters are keeping a close watch on these abnormally warm air and ocean temperatures.

“Here in the Cape Fear area, we’re seeing mid 80s for the ocean, which is a few degrees above normal. We have seen temps in the past above 90 before and luckily, we’re not there right now. So that means as we move closer into the heart of hurricane season, we monitor those ocean temps very carefully because of how they can influence the strength of tropical storms and hurricanes,” said Armstrong.

The earth’s hottest temperatures have been recorded in the last seven years, and 2023 is well on it’s way to be the warmest year ever recorded globally according to NOAA, as well as right here in the Cape Fear according to the National Weather Service in Wilmington.