Last week the planet’s hottest on record: UN weather agency.

The beginning of July was the hottest week on record as a series of searing days saw global temperature records fall.

The news comes after intensifying climate change and the early stages of the El Nino weather pattern drove the hottest June on record, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said in a statement on Monday.

“The world just had the hottest week on record according to preliminary data,” the UN agency said.

The temperature data is the latest in a series of records halfway through a year that has already seen a drought in Spain and fierce heatwaves in China and the United States.

Temperatures are breaking records both on land and in the oceans with “potentially devastating impacts on ecosystems and the environment”, the WMO said.

“We are in uncharted territory, and we can expect more records to fall as El Nino develops further and these impacts will extend into 2024,” said Christopher Hewitt, WMO director of climate services.

Meanwhile, the WMO said Antarctic sea ice levels reached record lows last month as the planet warms. Sea ice levels were 17 percent below average and were the lowest ever seen since satellite observations began.

Global sea surface temperatures were at record highs in May and June, according to the WMO, which warned that the warming of the world’s oceans was spreading fast beyond their surface.

Oceans rising

The UN organisation said the El Nino weather pattern, which recently emerged, was expected to increase temperatures both on land and in the oceans, which could lead to more marine heatwaves and extreme temperatures.

Source: https://phys.org

Share: