May 2023 was the third warmest May worldwide in 174 years of NOAA records. The global surface temperature in May was 0.97 degrees above the 20th century average of 14.8 degrees.
Global ocean surface temperatures reached a record high in May, marking the second consecutive month of record ocean surface temperatures. Weak El Niño conditions emerged in May, as sea surface temperatures warmed significantly across the equatorial Pacific Ocean. El Niño conditions are already present and are set to strengthen progressively through to the Northern Hemisphere winter of 2023-2024.
Fig. 1; Source: NOAA
The Northern Hemisphere saw its second warmest May on record, 0.11 degrees shy of the record set in May 2020. In the Southern Hemisphere, surface temperatures were the fourth warmest on record for the month. However, the surface temperature of the ocean alone reached a record high in the Southern Hemisphere at 0.81 degrees above average. Antarctica experienced a cooler-than-average May, while the Arctic had its fifth warmest May on record.
North and South America both set record temperatures in May. Several hundred forest fires broke out in Canada's forests, burning more than 6 million hectares and causing widespread deair quality across much of Canada and the United States in late May and early June.
A few details
Temperatures were above average across most ofNorth America,South America and Africa. Parts of Western Europe, northwest Russia, Southeast Asia, the Arctic and northern and southern Oceania also experienced above-average temperatures this month. Sea surface temperatures were above average across much of the northern and south-western Pacific, the central and southern Atlantic and the Indian Ocean. Parts of the eastern and southern Atlantic, the southern Pacific, the south-western Indian Ocean, as well as parts of north-western Canada and several South American countries recorded record temperatures in May.
Temperatures were near or below average in parts of the southeastern USA, Greenland, Eastern Europe, Central and South Asia, Australia andAntarctica. Sea surface temperatures were close to or below average over parts of the central-eastern and south-eastern Pacific and the north-western Atlantic Ocean.
