"Global Temperatures Passed Critical 1.5\u00b0C Milestone For The First Time in 2024 \u2013 new\u00a0report"

" Global Temperatures Passed Critical 1.5\u00b0C Milestone For The First Time in 2024 \u2013 New Report \r\n\r\nThe earth\u2019s climate experienced its hottest\u00a0 year \u00a0in 2024. Extreme flooding in April killed hundreds of people\u00a0 in Pakistan and Afghanistan . A year-long drought has left\u00a0 Amazon river levels at an all-time low . And in Athens, Greece, the ancient Acropolis\u00a0 was closed in the afternoons to protect tourists from dangerous heat. the EU\u2019s Copernicus Climate Change Service confirms that 2024 was the first year on record with a global average temperature exceeding 1.5\u00b0C above pre-industrial levels. All continents except Australasia and Antarctica experienced their hottest year on record, with 11 months of the year exceeding the 1.5\u00b0C level.\r\n\r\nGlobal temperatures have been at record levels \u2013 and still rising \u2013 for several years now. The\u00a0 previous hottest year on record \u00a0was 2023. All ten of the hottest years on record have fallen within the last decade. But this is the first time a calendar year has exceeded the 1.5\u00b0C threshold.\r\n\r\n The heat is on \r\n\r\nScientists at Copernicus used reanalysis to calculate the temperature rises and estimate changes to extreme events. Reanalysis is produced in real-time, combining observations from as many sources as possible \u2013 including satellites, weather stations and ships \u2013 with a state-of-the-art weather forecasting model, to build up a complete picture of the weather across the globe across the past year. The resulting dataset is one of the key tools used by scientists globally to study weather and climate.\r\n\r\nLimiting sustained global warming to 1.5\u00b0C is a key target of the\u00a0 Paris agreement , the 2015 international treaty which aims to mitigate climate change. The 195 signatory nations pledged to\u00a0 \u201cpursue efforts\u201d \u00a0to keep long-term average warming below 1.5\u00b0C.\r\n\r\nWhile reaching 1.5\u00b0C in 2024 is a milestone, surpassing 1.5\u00b0C for a single year does not constitute crossing the Paris threshold. Year-to-year fluctuations in the weather mean that even if a single year surpasses 1.5\u00b0C, the long-term average may still lie below that. It is this long-term average temperature that the Paris agreement refers to. The current long term average is around\u00a0 1.3\u00b0C .\r\n\r\nNatural factors, including a strong El Ni\u00f1o, contributed to the increased temperatures in 2024. El Ni\u00f1o is a climate phenomenon that affects weather patterns globally, causing elevated ocean temperatures in the tropical Pacific. It can raise global average temperatures and make extreme events more likely in some parts of the world. While these natural fluctuations enhanced human-caused climate change in 2024, in other years they act to cool the earth, potentially reducing the observed temperature increase in a particular year.\r\n\r\nWhile targets focus the minds of policymakers, it is important not to over-fixate on what are, from a scientific perspective, fairly arbitrary targets. Research has shown that catastrophic impacts, such as a rapid and potentially irreversible\u00a0 melting of the Greenland ice sheet , become more likely with every small amount of warming. These effects may occur even if thresholds are only passed temporarily. In short, every tenth of a degree of warming matters.\r\n\r\n Unprecedented extremes \r\n\r\nWhat ultimately affects humans and ecosystems is how global climate change manifests in regional climate and weather. The relationship between global climate and weather is non-linear: 1.5\u02daC of global warming may lead to individual heatwaves which are much hotter than the average increase in global temperatures.\r\n\r\nEurope recorded its hottest year in 2024, which manifested in severe heatwaves, especially in southern and eastern Europe. Parts of Greece and the Balkans experienced wildfires\u00a0 burning large areas of pine forest and homes .\r\n\r\nThis new report shows that 44% of the globe experienced strong or higher heat stress on July 10 2024, 5% more than the average annual maximum. Especially in low-income countries, this can lead to\u00a0 worse health outcomes and excess deaths .\r\n\r\nThe report also highlights that atmospheric moisture content (rainfall) in 2024 was 5% higher than the average for recent years. Warmer air can hold more moisture and water is a potent greenhouse gas, which traps even more heat in the atmosphere.\r\n\r\nMore worryingly, this higher moisture content means extreme rainfall events can become more intense. In 2024, many regions suffered from destructive\u00a0 flooding, such as that in Valencia, Spain, last October . It is not as simple as more moisture content leading to more extreme rainfall: the winds and pressure systems which move weather around also play a role and can be impacted by climate change. This means that rainfall may intensify even faster in some regions than the atmosphere\u2019s moisture content.\r\n\r\nTo ensure that warming does not exceed 1.5\u00b0C for a prolonged period, and avoid the worst effects of climate change, we need to rapidly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. It is also vital to adapt infrastructure to and protect people from the unprecedented extremes caused by current \u2013 and future \u2013 levels of warming.\r\n\r\nWith\u00a0 cooler conditions in the tropical Pacific , it remains to be seen if 2025 will be as hot as 2024. But this new record should highlight the huge influence that humans are having on our climate, and be a wake-up call to us all."

"Global Temperatures Passed Critical 1.5\u00b0C Milestone For The First Time in 2024 \u2013 new\u00a0report"

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