World experiences 12 consecutive months of record-high temperatures, but continued warming will “be remembered as a relatively cool period”

The world is now Thermal RecordLast month was the hottest May on record, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Wednesday, meaning the monthly record for maximum temperature was broken for 12 consecutive months.

Also, for the 11th consecutive month Earth’s average temperature at least 1.5 degrees This is above the pre-industrial average, and if this trend continues, the world will be approaching a turning point in climate change.

According to Copernicus, the average temperature in May was 1.52 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average, while the global average temperature from June 2023 to May 2024 will be 1.63 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

The pre-industrial average was: Greenhouse gas emissionsThis traps heat from the sun in Earth’s atmosphere, warming the planet. Experts have long warned that keeping the Earth’s average temperature at least 1.5 degrees above this is crucial to reducing the risk of devastating damage from global warming. As the planet warms, heat increases precipitation, melts sea ice, and Abnormal weather Shifting coastlines, agricultural problems, mass migration, harmful Health effects.

Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus Climate Change Service, said the 12-month record was “shocking but not surprising” and that while the streak would likely end at some point, “the overall signs of climate change remain.”

“These trends show no signs of changing,” he said. “We are living in unprecedented times. … The hottest months of the year will likely be remembered as relatively cooler months.”

Scientists say that while a rise of more than 1.5 degrees Celsius every month for nearly a year marks an alarming trend, it would take several consecutive hot years for the world to officially surpass that threshold. Deadly heat wave,flood, Hurricane Other conditions are already worsening as the climate changes.

“Millions of people around the world are already experiencing the impacts of climate change,” NOAA’s climate.gov states. “The 1.5°C climate threshold is not a switch that will turn on any kind of climate disaster. With even small amounts of warming, the risks of adverse impacts worsen.”

The main way to prevent the rise in global temperatures is to minimize greenhouse gas emissions. To do this, we need to burn less fossil fuels, such as oil and coal, which are responsible for the majority of these gases. UN climate experts say that carbon dioxide is the most abundant of these gases, and methane It is the most powerful, accounting for more than a quarter of total global warming.

If the world acts quickly to reduce concentrations of these gases, “we may be able to get back to these ‘cold’ temperatures by the end of the century,” Buontempo said.

For now, the heat is expected to continue. In the United States, officials are predicting another hot summer. Dangerously high temperatures California is already facing wildfires, while the Southeast Intense hurricane seasonIn the past week, Dozens killed in India Extreme heat caused deadly floods last month Afghanistan and Brazil.

“We are in a climate crisis,” UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. “The Earth is trying to tell us something, but we don’t seem to be listening. We are breaking global temperature records and brewing a storm.”