2024 could be the warmest year on record, WMO warns
The strength of the El Niño weather phenomenon coupled with greenhouse gas emissions will likely lead to 2024 breaking the record.
This year could be even warmer than 2023, which broke global warming records by a "huge margin", the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has warned.
The WMO confirmed data that emerged earlier in the week from the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service which found that 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded globally, breaking the previous record set in 2016, and sailing close to the 1.5C global warming limit compared to the pre-industrial age that scientists say is needed to stave off the worst of climate change.
Some six leading international datasets used for monitoring global temperatures show that the annual average global temperature was 1.45C above 1850-1900 levels in 2023, the WMO said.
Global temperatures in every month between June and December set new monthly records while July and August were the two hottest months on record, it said.
The strength of the El Niño weather phenomenon in the Pacific coupled with greenhouse gas emissions will likely lead to 2024 breaking the unenviable warning record from the year just passed, the WMO said.
El Niño refers to the warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface temperatures, in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, affecting the rest of the world when it happens.
The phenomenon returned in 2023 after the third consecutive winter of the La Niña water cooling phenomenon, in a highly unusual "triple dip" situation.
Scientists had warned in late 2022 that the return of El Niño after three consecutive La Niña events would likely lead to significant heating spikes going long into 2024.
Newly installed WMO Secretary-General Prof Celeste Saulo, who took over the role last month from Prof Petteri Taalas, said: "The shift from cooling La Niña to warming El Niño by the middle of 2023 is clearly reflected in the rise in temperature from last year. Given that El Niño usually has the biggest impact on global temperatures after it peaks, 2024 could be even hotter."
Climate change is the biggest challenge that humanity faces, according to Prof Saulo.
"It is affecting all of us, especially the most vulnerable. We cannot afford to wait any longer. We are already taking action but we have to do more and we have to do it quickly. We have to make drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and accelerate the transition to renewable energy sources,” she said.
Check out the Irish Examiner's WEATHER CENTRE for regularly updated short and long range forecasts wherever you are.
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