Geneva, Nov 6, (dpa/GNA) – The year 2025 could turn out to be the second- or third-warmest, since the industrial revolution, the World Meteorological Organization predicted on Thursday.
The prediction is based on the data the WMO will present on Monday to the UN Climate Change Conference, known as COP30, in Belém in Brazil.
The 2015-25 period had been the warmest 11 years, since records began 176 years ago, the Geneva-based WMO reported. It added that 2023, 2024 and 2025 were the three warmest years. Every month since June 2023 had broken records, with the exception of February this year, it said.
Between January and August, the average temperature was around 1.42 degrees Celsius above the level between 1850 and 1900, the WMO said.
It noted that many African and Asian regions had experienced flooding, and that there had been wildfires in Europe and North America, as well as several hurricanes.
To date, 2024 has been the warmest year, at 1.55 degrees above the reference levels.
The WMO noted that greenhouse gases had reached record levels in 2024 again, and these were continuing to rise. Arctic sea ice grew less after the winter than at any time since records began.
While the rate of rise in sea levels had declined slightly because of natural phenomena, the upward trend was continuing, it said.
GNA