| ► | 2020 has already shown near-record heat comparable to the previous record of 2016 |
| ► | Since the 1980s each decade has been warmer than the previous one |
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Smoke and steam billow from the Belchatow Power Station, Europe's
largest coal-fired power plant, near Belchatow, Poland. —
Reuters/File |
Despite a cooling La Niña event, 2020 has been a year of exceptional heat that is now mature and impacting weather patterns in many parts of the world, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said Friday.
“Record warm years have usually coincided with a strong El Niño event, as was the case in 2016”, WMO chief Petteri Taalas said in a statement.
Tuvalu, an archipelago of nine atolls in the South Pacific Ocean, where the average height of the islands is less than 2 metres above sea level, is highly susceptible to the effects of global warming.
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Boats are seen on the dried lake Poopo affected by climate change,
in the Oruro Department, Bolivia. —
Reuters/File |
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Tuvalu, an archipelago of nine atolls in the South Pacific Ocean,
where the average height of the islands is less than 2 metres above
sea level, is highly susceptible to the effects of global
warming. |
This year in top three
WMO has also documented the last six years as being the warmest.
In January, the UN agency will issue consolidated temperature figures for 2020, based on five global temperature datasets.
This will be incorporated into a final report on the State of the Climate in 2020, which will be issued in March and will include information on selected climate impacts.
To date, all five data sets for the first 10 months of 2020 has placed this year as the second warmest for the year, following 2016 and ahead of 2019.
WMO Provisional Report on the State of the Global Climate in 2020
Climate change continued its relentless march in 2020, which is on track to
be one of the three warmest years on record. 2011-2020 will be the warmest
decade on record, with the warmest six years all being since 2015, according
to the World Meteorological Organization.
Based on monthly reports from the European Unions’ Copernicus Climate Change Service, the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and the Japan Meteorological Agency, November has been classified as either the warmest or second warmest on record.
The difference between the warmest three years is small and exact rankings for each data set could change once data for the entire year are available, according to WMO.
A dangerous trend
Ranking temperatures for individual years is less important than long-term trends, the UN weather agency explained.
Since the 1980s each decade has been warmer than the previous one. And because of record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the trend is expected to persist.
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A glacier along the east coast of Greenland is seen out the window
of a Gulfstream jet. — Reuters/File |
According to WMO’s Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update, there is a one-in-five chance that the average global temperature will temporarily exceed 1.5 °C by 2024.
Links
- Earth’s warming is closing in on a crucial limit, U.N. report says
- 2020 closes a decade of exceptional heat
- WMO steps up action on La Niña
- Rapid Arctic meltdown in Siberia alarms scientists
- Planet-warming trend continues: 2020 closes hottest decade on record – UN weather agency
- 2020 on track to be one of three warmest years on record
- New climate predictions assess global temperatures in coming five years
- Earth just notched its warmest November, as 2020 closes in on record for hottest year
- Lethal Heating: Temperature Posts
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