We hang glider pilot are always interested in the weather, the
soaring weather, and therefore the big picture, climate change. October is not a
big hang gliding month for most Northern Hemisphere pilots, except in Florida
and Texas. We just missed the worst of the colder October weather in Boise
leaving for California near the end of the month.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2019/11/19/were-living-through-earths-second-hottest-year-noaa-finds/

This year is increasingly likely to be the planet’s second- or
third-warmest calendar year on record since modern temperature data collection
began in 1880, according to data released this week by the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration.

This reflects the growing influence of long-term, human-caused global warming
and is especially noteworthy, as there was an absence of a strong El Niño in the
tropical Pacific Ocean this year. Such events are typically associated with the
hottest years, since they boost global ocean temperatures and add large amounts
of heat to the atmosphere across the Pacific Ocean, the world’s largest.

According to a new report released Monday, there’s about an 85 percent chance
that the year will wind up ranking as the second-warmest in NOAA’s data set,
with a possibility that it slips to No. 3. Overall, though, it’s virtually
certain (greater than a 99 percent chance) that 2019 will wind up being a
top-five-warmest year for the globe.

NOAA found the average global land and ocean surface temperature for October was
1.76 degrees (0.98 degrees Celsius) above the 20th-century average, 0.11 of a
degree shy of the record warm October set in 2015.

Remarkably, the 10 warmest Octobers have occurred since 2003, and the top-five
warmest such months have taken place since 2015.

October 2019 was the 43rd-straight October to be warmer than the 20th-century
average, and the 418th straight warmer-than-average month. This means anyone
younger than 34 has not lived through a cooler-than-average year from a global
standpoint.

The only region of record cold for the month was in the Western United States,
where much of the Rockies were at record cold for the month. Interestingly,
despite the absence of a declared El Niño in the tropical Pacific, global
average sea-surface temperatures ranked second-warmest on record for the month,
running less than a tenth of a degree behind the record year of 2016, when there
was an intense El Niño event.