2023 was a record-breaking year, especially in terms of climate.

Locally, some records were smashed.

That's not all — according to the Meteorological Service Singapore's (MSS) annual report "Singapore Climate 2023: The Year in Numbers", 2023 was also the fourth-warmest year on record for Singapore.

It is tied with 1997 and 2015, and May and October 2023 in particular saw record-breaking temperatures.

Additionally, the start of 2023 saw some wet weather as well.

According to MSS, the rainy weather and subsequent high temperatures in 2023 was influenced by prevailing La Niña conditions that weakened in early 2023, followed by El Niño conditions in the second half of the year.

Too hot

Singapore experienced a cool start to the year — below average temperatures were recorded at the Changi climate station, and March 2023 was the coolest March in the last 10 years, with a mean temperature of 27.1°C.

However, from April to December 2023, the Changi climate station recorded above-average temperatures.

The annual mean temperature for the year was 28.2°C, 0.4°C above the long-term average and the fourth warmest on record since 1929.

The annual mean of the daily maximum temperature was 31.9°C, which ranked sixth highest on record, and was tied with 2005, 2010 and 2015.

Meanwhile, the annual mean of the daily minimum temperature was 25.7°C, the fourth highest on record.

According to MSS, the warm temperatures coupled with other factors such as humidity, wind speed and solar radiation, contributed to "high occurrences of heat stress".

Heat stress occurs when the body is unable to remove accumulated heat effectively through the evaporation of sweat. It can cause heat-related illnesses.

Singapore experienced 37 days of high heat stress, and most of these days were in April, May, June and October.

Too wet

The start of 2023 also saw some rather wet weather, and the rainfall for the year was the seventh highest since 1980.

February and March were "exceptionally wet", MSS stated in its report.

Despite the wet start, the months of April, May, August and October were drier than normal, which coincided with the hotter period of the year.

Weather extremes

Here are some weather extremes recorded in 2023.

Globally, 2023 was the hottest year ever on record, and the year was about 1.48°C warmer than the long-term average.

Antarctic sea ice coverage also dropped to a record low in 2023.

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Top photo from Canva