July’s post was about beating the record set in June. August hinted at a cooling. September didn’t just reverse the trend to higher temperatures, it accelerated it.
“This September was on average 1.8° C hotter than preindustrial levels, well above the Paris Agreement’s goal of keeping temperatures from rising more than 1.5° C.” – Ars Technica
Words can be powerful, but the graph of temperatures shows 2023’s data screaming off in its own atypical climb.
There’s really not much new to say about any of this, technically. This is a time to reflect on how scenarios were overlooked in the media. To make the data and the consequences palatable, scientists have used conservative projections. Conservative projections were hopefully minimizing the possibility of results being challenged, particularly by those who were unfamiliar with the science. By definition, conservative projections are below nominal projections, and nominal projections are below aggressive projections. Reality is turning out to be even worse. The consequences are no longer a futures game. What we are experiencing may be beyond any projection, which means we are unprepared for reality.
As one scientist put it;
“This month was, in my professional opinion as a climate scientist—absolutely gobsmackingly bananas,” Zeke Hausfather
Pretending Not To Panic 
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