Latest report by the World Meteorological Organization, (WMO) shows that the beginning of July was the hottest week on record for the planet as a whole.
The UN Body says that this year had already seen the hottest June on record, driven by climate change and the early stages of an El Niño weather pattern. It is the latest in a series of records halfway through a year that has seen a drought in Spain and fierce heatwaves in China as well as the US.
“The world just had the hottest week on record, according to preliminary data,” the WMO said in a statement, adding that temperatures were breaking records on land and in the oceans, with “potentially devastating impacts on ecosystems and the environment”.
“We are in uncharted territory and we can expect more records to fall as El Niño develops further and these impacts will extend into 2024,” said Christopher Hewitt, who is WMO’ director of climate services. “This is worrying news for the planet.”
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Hewitt further stated that Global sea surface temperatures were at record highs for the time of the year both in May and June. “It is not only the surface temperature, but the whole ocean is becoming warmer and absorbing energy that will remain there for hundreds of years.”
On his part, Michael Sparrow, chief of the world climate research programme at the WMO explained that If the oceans are warming considerably, that has a knock-on effect on the atmosphere, on sea ice and ice worldwide.
However, Sparrow said that El Niño’s effects would probably be felt more acutely later in the year, adding that El Niño hasn’t really got going yet.
Europe’s climate monitoring service Copernicus was quoted as saying that its data also showed last week was likely to be the hottest since records began in 1940. Copernicus said that its data suggested Thursday was likely to have seen the highest global average temperature, after several record-breaking days earlier in the week.
Story was adapted from the Guardian.
