“But it’s important to note that 1.64 degrees increase does not mean that the Paris Agreement target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees has been broken, because much of the warming over the last 12 months has been due to the heat associated with the El Nino event, which is now waned.”
Karoly said record daily temperatures – which included ocean surface temperatures – were largely associated with weather events like El Nino.
People pass a digital sign indicating a temperature of 42 degrees in Palma de Mallorca, Spain earlier this month.Credit: Bloomberg
Of greater concern, he said, were global land average temperatures.
“The temperature extremes that affect people are on land. And people are not fish.
“The land average temperatures are 40 to 50 per cent greater than the global average temperatures in terms of increases, and the 1½ degree Paris Agreement target for global averages will mean more than 2 degrees of land average warming.”
The Bureau of Meteorology issued severe weather warnings for south-eastern Australia on Wednesday, with showers and strong winds predicted for parts of Victoria and New South Wales.
Meteorologist Jonathan How said strong winds in Victoria would intensify on Wednesday night and into Thursday, with gusts between 100km/h and 120km/h.
In New South Wales, winds would build around the Snowy Mountains, with gusts predicted to exceed 125km/h on Wednesday evening and Thursday morning.
Every month since June 2023 has now ranked as the planet’s hottest average since records began, compared with the corresponding month in previous years.
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Some scientists have suggested 2024 could surpass 2023 as the hottest year since records began, as climate change and El Nino – which ended in April – have pushed temperatures ever higher this year.
“As a consequence of the increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, we are bound to see new records being broken in the next few months, in the next few years,” Buontempo said.
Scientists and environmental advocates have long called for global leaders and wealthier countries to phase out and end the reliance on fossil fuels to prevent catastrophic effects of climate change, including increased heatwaves.
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