The year 2024 could be hotter under El Nino’s influence than the record-shattering 2023, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) warned on Friday.
“The shift from cooling La Nina to warming El Nino by the middle of 2023 is clearly reflected in the rise in temperature from last year. Given that El Nino usually has the biggest impact on global temperatures after it peaks, 2024 could be even hotter,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo.
WMO revealed that the annual average global temperature was 1.45 ± 0.12°C above pre-industrial levels (1850-1900) in 2023. Global temperatures in every month between June and December set new monthly records. July and August were the two hottest months on record.
Saulo stressed the urgency of climate action, citing the need for drastic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and an accelerated transition to renewable energy sources.
“While El Nino events are naturally occurring and come and go from one year to the next, longer-term climate change is escalating, and this is unequivocal because of human activities,” she said. “It affects all aspects of sustainable development and undermines efforts to tackle poverty, hunger, ill-health, displacement, and environmental degradation.”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres echoed these concerns, urging immediate action to limit the rise in global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius. The long-term monitoring of global temperatures serves as a critical indicator, reflecting the severity of climate change, with other indicators including atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, ocean conditions, sea levels, sea ice extent, and glacier mass balance.
The WMO’s provisional State of the Global Climate in 2023 report, released on November 30, had highlighted unprecedented records in sea surface temperatures, marine heatwaves, and Antarctic sea ice extent.
El Nino is an oceanic and atmospheric phenomenon that marks the warm phase of the El Nino–Southern Oscillation (ENSO).