Temperatures in the Finnish capital last September were the highest on record, and according to Finnish Meteorological Institute (FMI) researchers it was due to global warming.
The average temperature in Helsinki's downtown district of Kaisaniemi in September 2023 was 15.8 degrees Celsius, breaking the previous record from 1934 by nearly a whole degree.
FMI researchers published a study this week describing a way to quantify the impact global warming has on monthly, seasonal and annual mean temperatures in places where temperatures have been recorded for long periods of time.
The Kaisaniemi weather station is Finland's longest operating weather station, which started operating in 1844, according to the study.
"Our results suggest that anthropogenic climate change made the warmth of September 2023 about nine times more likely and about 1.4 degrees Celsius warmer than it would have been without climate change. Thus, a new record would probably not have been set without the observed global warming," the study's conclusion section stated.
"Worldwide, September 2023 was the warmest on record. It was already clear then that the ongoing global warming was intensifying heat waves. Now we were able to determine the [warming's] effect," researcher Mika Rantanen noted.
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