Past Four Years Hottest On Record, Data Shows
Source: The Guardian
World running out of time to combat climate change, warns meteorological organization.
Global temperatures have continued to rise in the past 10 months, with 2018 expected to be the fourth warmest year on record.
Average temperatures around the world so far this year were nearly 1C (1.8F) above pre-industrial levels. Extreme weather has affected all continents, while the melting of sea ice and glaciers and rises in sea levels continue. The past four years have been the hottest on record, and the 20 warmest have occurred in the past 22 years.
The warming trend is unmistakeable and shows we are running out of time to tackle climate change, according to the World Meteorological Organization, which on Thursday published its provisional statement on the State of the Climate in 2018. The WMO warned that, on current trends, warming could reach 3C to 5C by the end of this century.
“These are more than just numbers,” said Elena Manaenkova, the WMO deputy secretary general. “Every fraction of a degree of warming makes a difference to human health and access to food and fresh water, to the extinction of animals and plants, to the survival of coral reefs and marine life.”
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/29/four-years-hottest-record-climate-change
The Met Office said on Monday that summer temperatures in the UK could be 5C hotter by 2070, making this year’s heatwave the norm for the future. And winters could get much wetter.
London could become increasingly vulnerable to storms and flooding owing to sea-level rises, with the water level in the capital likely to rise by 1.15 metres by the end of the century.
"The Rising Tide" sculpture by Jason deCaires Taylor, London, Thames River.
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