“We have never seen anything like this before”
– Carlo Buontempo, director of Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service quoted in the Washington Post, 07-06-2023.
More from the article:
Scientists say to brace for more extreme weather and probably a record-warm 2023 amid unprecedented temperatures.
New precedents have been set in recent weeks and months, surprising some scientists with their swift evolution: historically warm oceans, with North Atlantic temperatures already nearing their typical annual peak; unparalleled low sea ice levels around Antarctica, where global warming impacts had, until now, been slower to appear; and the planet experiencing its warmest June ever charted, according to new data.
And then, on Monday, came Earth’s hottest day in at least 125,000 years. Tuesday was hotter.
“We have never seen anything like this before,” said Carlo Buontempo, director of Europe’s Copernicus Climate Change Service. He said any number of charts and graphs on Earth’s climate are showing, quite literally, that “we are in uncharted territory.”
It is no shock that global warming is accelerating — scientists were anticipating that would come with the onset of El Niño, the infamous climate pattern that reemerged last month. It is known for unleashing surges of heat and moisture that trigger extreme floods and storms in some places, and droughts and fires in others.
But the hot conditions are developing too quickly, and across more of the planet, to be explained solely by El Niño. Records are falling around the globe many months ahead of El Niño’s peak impact, which typically hits in December and sends global temperatures soaring for months to follow…
More articles on the hottest day on record:
Four storms churning the West Pacific at the same time mean more bad news for the Philippines – CNN
Four separate storm systems are churning their way through the West Pacific simultaneously, a rare occurrence resulting from warmer oceans that threatens to bring more misery to the storm-weary Philippines…
After Helene and Milton, residents of Casey Key question its future – the Washington Post
Two back-to-back destructive storms make some ponder the burden of the barrier island’s beauty. Will they rebuild again or give in to climate change?..
Hurricane Milton Is Terrifying, and It Is Just the Start | Opinion – the New York Times
As Hurricane Milton roars toward Florida’s west coast with winds that spiked to a staggering 180 miles per hour, we are witnessing a new reality. Supercharged hurricanes are no longer outliers, freak disasters or storms of the century…
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