Heat likely to break records in the next five years
Temperatures are likely to soar to record highs over the next five years, driven by human-caused warming and the El Niño climate pattern, World Meteorological Organization forecasters said. There is also a two-thirds chance that one of the next five years could be 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, hotter than the 19th-century average, the organization reported.
There is a 98 percent chance that at least one of the next five years will exceed the temperature records set in 2016, the forecasters said, while the average from 2023 to ’27 will almost certainly be the warmest for a five-year period ever recorded. Even small temperature increases can exacerbate the dangers from heat waves, wildfires, drought and other calamities.
El Niño conditions can cause further turmoil by shifting global precipitation patterns. The meteorological organization said it expected increased summer rainfall over the next five years in…
This article was written by Natasha Frost and originally published on www.nytimes.com