“The latest figures from the Copernicus Climate Change Service unfortunately highlight that We will exceed the 1.5°C threshold temporarily with increasing frequency.monthly,” the World Meteorological Organization said (World Meteorological Organization) Secretary General Celeste Saulo.
The 1.5°C threshold refers to the temperature increase above pre-industrial levels that began in 1850.
The long-term picture
“However, It is important to stress that a temporary breach does not mean that the 1.5°C target will be lost forever. because this refers to warming that lasts for at least two decades,” she added.
Efforts to limit long-term average global surface temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius by the end of this century have been formally endorsed by Paris Agreementeffective in 2016.
The scientific community has warned that warming of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius could lead to increasingly severe impacts of climate change and extreme weather events, stressing the importance of every fraction of a degree.
For example, every 0.1 degrees Celsius This increase is causing “a marked increase in the intensity and frequency of extreme heat and precipitation, as well as agricultural and ecological droughts in some areas,” according to the WMO, the UN’s weather agency.
Extreme weather patterns
The WMO has warned that even at current levels of warming, the world is facing devastating climate impacts. More extreme heatwaves, more extreme rainfall and drought events, receding glaciers and rapidly rising sea levels are wreaking havoc on the planet.
Extreme heat also causes the highest mortality rate of all types of extreme weather, with There were an estimated 489,000 heat-related deaths each year from 2000 to 2019.according to one WMO Report 2023.
The record sea surface temperature was also the highest value on record for June. These record-breaking temperatures are “of great concern to important marine ecosystems and They also provide the energy to strengthen tropical cyclones. – as we saw with Hurricane Beryl,” said Ms. Saulo.
Sea ice at both poles is also being affected, with Arctic sea ice 3% below average while Antarctic sea ice was 12% below average in June, according to satellite data.
Global Highlights
Globally, temperatures in Europe rose most above average in the southeastern regions and Türkiye.
Meanwhile, outside Europe, the most above-average temperatures occurred in eastern Canada, the western United States and Mexico, Brazil, northern Siberia, the Middle East, northern Africa and western Antarctica.
While temperatures were below average in the eastern equatorial Pacific, suggesting a La Niña event was developing, Air temperatures over the ocean remain unusually high. in many areas.
“Even if this particular series of extreme events ends at some point, we will certainly see new records broken as the climate continues to warm,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service.
“This is inevitable unless we stop releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and oceans,” he added.
