World in 'deep trouble' with 2023 still on track to be hottest year ever recorded, UN leader warns
People cool off at the beach in Coney Island on a hot afternoon on July 06, 2023 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - This year is on track to become the hottest year ever recorded, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned Thursday as world leaders gathered in Dubai for a global climate summit.
The WMO released its provisional State of the Global Climate report Thursday, which indicates that the temperature in 2023 was 1.4 degrees Celsius (2.52 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than pre-industrial levels.
The data collected till October suggests that the last two months of the year are unlikely to change the outcome, putting it ahead of 2016 and 2020, according to officials.
"A full month before the end of the year, the data already points to 2023 being the hottest year recorded in human history," United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said on X, formerly known as Twitter. "Today’s State of the Global Climate report shows we’re in deep trouble. Leaders must get us out of it – starting at COP28."
2023 'VIRTUALLY CERTAIN' TO BE WORLD'S HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORD, SCIENTISTS SAY
Here's a look at the temperature anomalies observed in 2023. (World Meteorological Organization)
The WMO reported that the period spanning from 2015 to 2023 experienced the highest temperatures ever recorded.
The latest climate report showed that this year, the months of June, July, August, September and October have each broken the previous record for the respective months by a significant margin in all datasets.
According to the report, July is typically the warmest month of the year, and last July was the hottest month ever recorded worldwide.
In the Northern Hemisphere, an El Niño event escalated quickly during the summer following last spring. This occurrence is anticipated to raise the temperature in 2024, as El Niño typically has the most significant influence on global temperatures after reaching its peak, the WMO said.
2023 has shattered climate records, accompanied by extreme weather which has left a trail of devastation and despair, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). (World Meteorological Organization)
EL NIÑO DELIVERS ON EXPECTATIONS WORLD IS HEADING TOWARDS PERIOD OF ALL-TIME RECORD HEAT
"Greenhouse gas levels are record high. Global temperatures are record high. Sea level rise is record high. Antarctic sea ice is record low," WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said. "It’s a deafening cacophony of broken records."
Taalas urged that these are more than just statistics.
"We risk losing the race to save our glaciers and to rein in sea level rise," he said. "We cannot return to the climate of the 20th century, but we must act now to limit the risks of an increasingly inhospitable climate in this and the coming centuries."
The final State of the Global Climate 2023 report and regional reports will be published in the first half of 2024.