World Meteorological Organization

Rising temperatures should trigger a global "red alert," the United Nations' weather and climate agency chief said on Wednesday, after global heat indices again smashed records in August.

The world saw record average temperatures in August for the second year running, preliminary data from the EU's climate monitor seen by AFP showed.

The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has indicated that July was likely the hottest month on record, following initial estimates suggesting it nearly surpassed the 2023 record, as reported by DPA.

A group of more than 50 prominent scientists has issued a warning that global warming is accelerating at an "unprecedented" pace, raising concerns about the diminishing opportunity to curb temperature increases in line with international targets. This cautionary message was conveyed in a study reported by AFP.

The return of the cooling La Nina weather phenomenon this year should help lower temperatures somewhat after months of global heat records, the United Nations' weather agency said Monday.

Latin America and the Caribbean had their warmest year on record in 2023 as a "double-whammy" of El Nino and climate change caused major weather calamities, the World Meteorological Organization said Wednesday.

Asia was the world's most disaster-hit region from climate and weather hazards in 2023, the United Nations said Tuesday, with floods and storms the chief cause of casualties and economic losses.

Global temperatures hit record highs last year, and the U.N.'s weather and climate agency said Asia was warming at a particularly rapid pace.

The warming El Nino weather phenomenon that peaked in December was one of the five strongest ever recorded, the United Nations said Tuesday, predicting that it would produce above-normal temperatures from now to May.

It has already caused a "deafening cacophony" and temperature records, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced today, according to Reuters.
"We are living and going through a climate collapse in real time," said United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres at the opening of the COP28 summit in Dubai, the Guardian reported.

Extreme heat was forecast across the globe on Wednesday, as wildfires raged and health warnings were in place in parts of Asia, Europe and North America.

Firefighters battled blazes in parts of Greece and the Canary Islands while Spain issued heat alerts and some children in Italy's Sardinia were told to stay away from sports.

Summer has just begun in the Northern Hemisphere but a brutal heat wave is already gripping parts of Europe, China and the United States, where record temperatures expected this weekend are a stark illustration of the dangers of a warming climate.