Global temperatures to reach new high, WMO says

The World Meteorological Organization recently published a new update on climate change, with the entity projecting even higher temperatures in the coming five years.

“Global mean temperatures are predicted to continue increasing, moving us further and further away from the climate we are used to,” said Dr Leon Hermanson, a Met Office expert scientist who led the report.

The surge would be fuelled by heat-trapping greenhouse gasses and a naturally occurring El Niño event. Typically, this phenomena increases global temperatures in the year after it develops, meaning that temperatures could begin rising by 2024.

There is a 98% likelihood that at least one of the next five years, and the five-year period as a whole, will be the warmest on record.

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“A warming El Niño is expected to develop in the coming months and this will combine with human-induced climate change to push global temperatures into uncharted territory,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas.

Prof. Talaas warned about the upcoming and far-reaching “repercussions for health, food security, water management and the environment”, and advised authorities to prepare accordingly.

Human-induced greenhouse gasses are also leading to more ocean heating and acidification, sea ice and glacier melt, sea level rise and more extreme weather, which often has a negative impact on crops and harvests.