Intense heat highlights need for climate action: WMO

WMO – The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has called for increased efforts to tackle climate change as intense heat grips large parts of the Northern Hemisphere.

New daily and station temperature records have been broken and it is possible that some national records may fall, said the WMO. June saw the warmest global average temperature on record, which continued into July, according to preliminary figures.

Meanwhile, heavy precipitation has caused devastating floods and loss of life in some countries, including the Republic of Korea, Japan and northeastern United States.

“The extreme weather – an increasingly frequent occurrence in our warming climate – is having a major impact on human health, ecosystems, economies, agriculture, energy and water supplies. This underlines the increasing urgency of cutting greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and as deeply as possible,” said WMO Secretary-General Prof. Petteri Taalas.

“In addition, we have to step up efforts to help society adapt to what is unfortunately becoming the new normal. The WMO community is providing forecasts and warnings to protect lives and livelihoods as we strive to achieve our goal of Early Warnings for All,” said Taalas.

“If there are any new extreme temperature records during the ongoing heatwaves, we will issue a quick preliminary assessment and then start detailed evaluations as part of our painstaking verification process, said Prof. Randall Cerveny, WMO Weather and Climate Extremes Rapporteur.

“Climate change and temperature increase has spurred a surge in reports of record weather and climate extremes, especially for heat. We have to make sure that these records are verified for the sake of scientific understanding and accuracy,” said Cerveny.