Past four years hottest on record, says UN

The past four years were the hottest since global temperature records began, a new UN ­report has revealed.

This map made available by NASA in February 2019 shows global surface temperature anomalies for 2014-2018. Higher than normal temperatures are shown in red and lower than normal temperatures are shown in blue. Picture: AP

The past four years were the hottest since global temperature records began, the UN ­reports in an analysis it says is a “clear sign of continuing long-term climate change”.

The UN’s World Meteorological Organisation said in ­­Nov­ember that 2018 was set to be the fourth warmest year in recorded history, stressing the urgent need for action to rein in runaway planetary warming.

Yesterday, it incorporated the final weeks of last year into its ­climate models and found that average global surface temperature in 2018 was 1C above pre-­industrial baseline levels.

Boosted by a strong El Nino that normally tips the mercury northwards, 2016 remains the hottest year on record.

The UN also said the 20 warm­est years in history have all occurred within the past 22 years.

“The long-term temperature trend is far more important than the ranking of individual years, and that trend is an upward one,” said WMO secretary-general Petteri Taalas. “The degree of warming during the past four years has been exceptional, both on land and in the ocean.”

The WMO said heightened temperatures also contributed to several extreme weather events such as hurricanes, droughts and flash flooding. “Many of the extreme weather events are consistent with what we expect from a changing climate. This is the ­reality to which we need to face up,” Mr Taalas said.

The UN body also said 2019 had picked up where 2018 left off, with Australia experiencing its warmest January on record. It warned that intense heatwaves “are becoming more frequent as a result of climate change”.

As parts of the mid-western US were gripped by a “polar ­vortex” last week in which temperatures plunged to lows of -53C, US President Donald Trump suggested the cold weather front cast doubt over the veracity of climate change data.

Mr Taalas said the deadly cold snap was entirely consistent with the effects of man-made climate change, including the warming of the poles.

“A part of the cold anomalies at lower latitudes could be linked to dramatic changes in the ­Arctic,” he said. “What happens at the poles does not stay at the poles but ­influences weather and climate conditions in lower latitudes where hundreds of millions of people live.”

AFP