We’ve been aware that the temperatures have been unseasonably warm for this time of year, but we were surprised to hear that Boston set a record-high temperature on Monday when the thermometer hit 83 degrees, breaking a mark that had stood for 104 years.
In addition to enjoying the great weather, which was incredibly perfect for this past weekend’s Head of the Charles Rowing Regatta, the good news about the unseasonable warmth is that we have not had to turn on our furnaces, which not only helps keep down our heating bills, but also reduces our use of fossil fuels to heat our homes.
But the advantages of the record-setting warm weather belie the simple reality that our planet is undergoing climate change at an ever-increasing rate. Every month since June 2023 has been hotter than the one preceding it, resulting in a global average temperature from July 2023 to June 2024 that has been 1.64 C (about 3 F) above what it was before the start of the Industrial Revolution, when humankind started burning the fossil fuels that release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Climate experts for years have told us that 1.50 C above the pre-Industrial Revolution temperature is the threshold for catastrophic and irreversible damage to our environment — and now we are at 1.64.
We have written many times that there is no place on our planet that is safe from the effects of climate change. Hurricane Helene wrought devastation in western sections of No. Carolina, wiping entire communities off the map with epic flooding, even though those places are hundreds of miles from the coastline and were far away from where Helene made landfall in Florida. So yes, the great weather in October has been wonderful. But none of us should be lulled into thinking that this is a good thing.
