“The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting,” United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. “Climate breakdown has begun.”So far, 2023 is the second hottest year on record, behind 2016, according to Copernicus. Usually an El Nino, which started earlier this year, adds extra heat to global temperatures but more so in its second year. Climatologist Andrew Weaver said the numbers announced by WMO and Copernicus come as no surprise, bemoaning how governments have not appeared to take the issue of global warming seriously enough. “If heat waves increase as a result of El Nino, we may probably expect a further degradation in air quality as a whole,” he said.

Source: The Hindu September 07, 2023 14:29 UTC