Jeff Berardelli is WFLA’s Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — It’d been a toasty 2024 here in the Tampa Bay Area and all around the globe. In fact, 2024 is virtually certain to be the hottest year on record for Earth , according to ECMWF Copernicus Climate Change Service.
After the most sweltering summer on record in Tampa, we added another notch to our belt just yesterday. On Wednesday Tampa Airport hit a daily record high of 91 and also an all-time November record high heat index of 101.
The added 100+ heat index day on Wednesday puts Tampa’s total number of days with a heat index (temperature plus humidity) of at least 100 degrees at 100 days on the button. That breaks the old record of 88 set in 2023 and 2022.
For the Tampa Bay Area, it does not appear that 2024 will be the hottest year on record, but for many neighborhoods, it will be a top 5 warmest year.
However, for the planet, there has never been a year so hot as long as records have been kept. For ECMWF Copernicus, that record dates back to around 1940 other records like NOAA go back to around 1850.