Global temperatures to hit near-record highs in 2019, forecasters warn

Source- standard.co.uk

The highs will be the result of human-caused climate change and warming from the El Nino weather phenomenon in the Pacific, experts said.

Temperatures around the world in 2019 are expected to average around 1.10C above pre-industrial levels. This is close to the record-breaking hot year of 2016 when temperatures were 1.15C above the 1850-1900 period. Experts have warned of the need to take urgent and dramatic action across society to start to bring down emissions rapidly.

They have urged that huge change is needed to put the world on track to limit temperature rises and avoid the worst impacts of climate change.

Predictions of the close-to-record hot year are the latest in the warming trend the world has seen in recent years.

By the end of next year, 19 of the 20 warmest years on record will have occurred since the year 2000, Professor Adam Scaife, head of a long-range prediction at the Met Office, said.

The latest warning of rising temperatures comes after the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) revealed that 2018 was among the warmest on record, with only 2016, 2015 and 2017 hotter.

As countries met to agree the rulebook to implement the Paris climate deal, which aims to limit temperature rises to 1.5C or 2C above pre-industrial levels, scientists said carbon emissions continued to rise this year.