According to the April 2023 global climate report from NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, the month was the fourth-warmest April in the 174-year record, with temperatures 1.00°C above the 20th-century average. The 10 warmest April months have occurred since 2010, marking 49 consecutive Aprils and 530 consecutive months with temperatures above the 20th-century average.
Above-average temperatures were recorded in most of northeastern North America and Greenland, parts of Central and South America, Africa, Antarctica, western Europe, eastern and western Asia, and Oceania. Sea surface temperatures were above average across much of the northern, western, and southwestern Pacific, the central and southern Atlantic, and the Indian Ocean. Record warm temperatures covered just over 5% of the world’s surface in April.
However, temperatures were near or cooler than average in areas such as western North America and Alaska, central and eastern Europe, India, central China, central Russia, and western Australia. Sea surface temperatures were near or below average in parts of the southeastern and eastern Pacific and the northern Atlantic Ocean, with less than 1% of the world’s surface experiencing a record-cold April.
Global ocean temperatures reached a record high for April, with a temperature of 0.86°C above the long-term average. This marked the second-highest monthly ocean temperature for any month on record, closely following the record-warm ocean temperatures set in January 2016.
On April 13, NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center announced an El Niño Watch alert status, with a 62% chance of El Niño developing between May and July 2023. In terms of precipitation, April 2023 saw mixed conditions, with areas of dryness in the Maritime Continent and Australia, as well as above-average rains in the Indian sub-continent, heavy rain and flooding in central and eastern China, and well above average rainfall in eastern Africa.
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