LIMA (AFP) - This year may end as the hottest on record, the UN's
weather agency said Wednesday as it recounted a tale of rising
seas, crippling droughts and floods since January.
"The year 2014 is on track to be one of the hottest, if not the
hottest, on record," the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO)
reported on the sidelines of the United Nations climate talks in
Lima.
Provisional data for 2014 shows that 14 out of the 15 warmest years
on record have all occurred in the 21st century, it added.
"There is no standstill in global warming," WMO chief Michel
Jarraud said in a press statement.
"What we saw in 2014 is consistent with what we expect from a
changing climate. Record-breaking heat combined with torrential
rainfall and floods destroyed livelihoods and ruined lives," he
said.
"What is particularly unusual and alarming this year are the high
temperatures of vast areas of the ocean surface, including in the
northern hemisphere."
The global average air temperature over land and sea surface for
January to October was about 0.57 deg C above the average of 14 deg
C for a reference period from 1961-1990, the WMO said.
It was 0.09 deg C above the average for the decade 2004-2013.
"If November and December maintain the same tendency, then 2014
will likely be the hottest on record, ahead of 2010, 2005 and
1998," the WMO said.
"This confirms the underlying long-term warming trend."
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