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Global Temperatures Could Reach New Records in Next 5 Years

While it’s been relatively cool in the Bay Area, globally temperatures continue to set records.

According to a new update from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), we need to be prepared for a sweltering future with temperatures pushed into uncharted territory. 

WMO says the rise in temperatures is fueled by heat-trapping greenhouse gases, like carbon dioxide and methane, and a naturally occurring El Niño event, expected to develop in the coming months. 

Scientists in the report say that between now and 2027, there’s a two out of three chance that the planet’s average surface temperatures will go over 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels for at least one year.

Warming in the arctic will also be disproportionately higher, leading to extreme weather patterns.

As the temperatures climb, the organization says there’s a 98% chance that at least one of the next five years, and the five-year period as a whole, will be the warmest on record.

Dr. Manoochehr Shirzaei, a geophysicist at Virginia Tech, says that even though the spike in temperatures will be temporary for a year or two, it will give us a glimpse of what our norm will be by the 21st century.

“The catastrophe is coming,” Shirzaei said. “We are on a course unfortunately that things in the short term are looking really bad. But this is the course when we don’t consider adaptation strategies. But always we have means to defend against those negative impacts. And I think this report should be taken seriously by our policymakers for alternatives to consult with scientists for local communities to come up with adaptation strategies to make it resilient against the side effects of catastrophic changes in our system.”


Source: NBC Bay Area

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