Scientists say 2023 was almost certainly the hottest year the world has ever recorded, but that likely wasn’t quite the case locally.
Worldwide, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last week that 2023 has a greater than 99% chance of being the hottest on record.
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While local numbers aren’t quite breaking the record, they are definitely above average. Missouri has seen the eighth-hottest year through November, while Illinois has recorded the seventh hottest. December’s data could change those numbers.
“At this point, it's certainly looking like December's also going to be an above-normal month as well,” said Missouri State Climatologist Zack Leasor. “And this could contribute and maybe bump us up a few rankings at the end of the year.”
Things are even warmer in the St. Louis area. The record to beat would be 2012, which averaged 61.2 degrees. So far, St. Louis has averaged 61.3 degrees through Dec. 14, but the next two weeks of cooler December days are likely to bring that temperature down a few tenths of a degree, said Jayson Gosselin, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in St. Louis.
“Whether it's second, third, fourth or fifth, we’ve got 150 years, roughly, of records, so to fall in that top five, it's very noteworthy,” Gosselin said.
As the region is getting warmer, it is staying warmer overnight. That means it’s even harder to keep homes and buildings cool. During the August heat wave in Missouri, the state saw more than 260 tied or broken highest low temperatures.
“While temperatures are overall warming, we're seeing those minimum temperatures warm even quicker,” Leasor said. “And both of these are kind of a signal for climate change.”
In St. Louis, two overnight low temperatures were in the top 10 ever recorded. One was on July 28, when the overnight low was 85 degrees. Another was July 26, at 84 degrees.
“Those warm nights are definitely of concern,” Gosselin said.
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While Missouri saw broken heat records, Leasor said another climate story will actually define 2023 — drought.
The time period from April to November was the seventh-driest Missouri has recorded, with precipitation about 8 inches below normal. Leasor said this is likely a 1-in-20-year drought. That time period of record-setting dry months was especially bad for farmers.
“It actually made some of the impacts worse this year from the drought because it was literally the entire growing season, from planting in April to when harvest was wrapped up in November,” Leasor said.
Missouri Gov. Mike Parson last month extended the state’s drought alert through May 2024.
“While we've had periods of marginal improvement, farmers and ranchers are still feeling the impacts, many forced to sell livestock early and scrambling for alternative feed sources,” Parson said in a statement. “Some of the most impacted areas are our waterways, slowing barge and river port activity during our busy harvest season.”
Currently, large swaths of Missouri are experiencing moderate to severe drought conditions, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. The southern half of Illinois is also experiencing drought.
