Earth is set for a hot Spring as World Meteorological Organization predicts ‘above-average’ temperatures over the coming months due to climate change
- World Meteorological Organization claims temperatures are likely to be high
- ‘Above-average’ sea surface temperatures are expected around the world
- This will, in turn, manifest itself as higher than normal land temperatures
- Is driven almost entirely by climate change and not by an El Nino or El Nina
Another bout of unseasonably warm weather will likely strike many parts of the world in the coming months, a new report claims.
The prediction from the World Meteorological Organization claims this hot Spring will happen without a natural ‘El Nino’ effect and will be caused by climate change.
El Nino causes a surge in global temperatures but researchers have now found human-induced climate change is as powerful as the natural event.
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Another bout of unseasonably warm weather will likely strike many parts of the world in the coming months, a new report claims. The prediction from the World Meteorological Organization claims this will happen without a a natural ‘El Nino’ effect (file photo)
El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a natural phenomenon in the Pacific which causes a temperature spike as well as causing heavy rains, floods and droughts.
The WMO said there was a 60 per cent chance of a ‘neutral’ situation, without an El Nino or its opposite La Nina, over the months from March to May.
There is only a 35 per cent per cent chance of an El Nino developing and just 5 per cent for a La Nina.
WMO forecasts that, despite no help from nature itself, climate change will drive above-average sea surface temperatures in many parts of the world.
This will, in turn, manifest itself as higher than normal land temperatures.
File photo taken in October 2016 shows coral bleaching at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, a World Heritage Site. Coral bleaching is caused by warming waters causing the coral to expel the algae it relies on, leading to bleaching
Natural disasters amplified and caused by the ongoing climate crisis are fresh in the memory. Britain’s floods have devastated swathes of the countryside while Australia still rallies after weeks of devastating bushfires. Pictured, a composite image made using data from NASA ‘s satellites that shows where bushfires ravaged Australia between December 5 and January 5
Climate change is behind this above-average sea surface temperature and air temperature forecast, the WMO said.
The UN agency’s secretary-general Petteri Taalas said: ‘Even ENSO neutral months are warmer than in the past, as air and sea surface temperatures and ocean heat have increased due to climate change.
‘With more than 90 per cent of the energy trapped by greenhouse gases going into the ocean, ocean heat content is at record levels.
‘Thus, 2016 was the warmest year on record as a result of a combination of a strong El Nino and human-induced global warming.
2019 was the second-warmest year on record, even though there was no strong El Nino.
‘We just had the warmest January on record. The signal from human-induced climate change is now as powerful as that from a major natural force of nature,’ he said.
The complete data set is not yet in for February but early indications from France, which experienced its warmest winter since 1900, 2.7°C above the long-term baseline (1981-2010), indicates the trend is continuing.
Meanwhile, natural disasters amplified and caused by the ongoing climate crisis are fresh in the memory.
Britain’s floods have devastated swathes of the countryside while Australia still rallies after weeks of devastating bushfires.
Scientists say the fires were categorically linked to climate change and worsened by a year-long drought exacerbated by climate change.
They destroyed homes, killed around half a billion animals and took the lives of 33 people.
Scientists in Antarctica have taken incredible images of ‘watermelon snow’ painting the pristine white wilderness a stark pink colour (pictured). It is an algae responding to warmer temperatures
WHAT IS THE EL NINO PHENOMENON IN THE PACIFIC OCEAN?
El Niño and La Niña are the warm and cool phases (respectively) of a recurring climate phenomenon across the tropical Pacific – the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, or ‘ENSO’ for short.
The pattern can shift back and forth irregularly every two to seven years, and each phase triggers predictable disruptions of temperature, winds and precipitation.
These changes disrupt air movement and affect global climate.
ENSO has three phases it can be:
- El Niño: A warming of the ocean surface, or above-average sea surface temperatures (SST), in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Over Indonesia, rainfall becomes reduced while rainfall increases over the tropical Pacific Ocean. The low-level surface winds, which normally blow from east to west along the equator, instead weaken or, in some cases, start blowing the other direction from west to east.
- La Niña: A cooling of the ocean surface, or below-average sea surface temperatures (SST), in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. Over Indonesia, rainfall tends to increase while rainfall decreases over the central tropical Pacific Ocean. The normal easterly winds along the equator become even stronger.
- Neutral: Neither El Niño or La Niña. Often tropical Pacific SSTs are generally close to average.
Maps showing the most commonly experienced impacts related to El Niño (‘warm episode,’ top) and La Niña (‘cold episode,’ bottom) during the period December to February, when both phenomena tend to be at their strongest
Source: Climate.gov