Rising temperatures should trigger a global “red alert”, the United Nations’ weather and climate agency chief said Wednesday, after global heat indices again smashed records in August.
The world saw record average temperatures in August for the second year running, preliminary data from the EU’s climate monitor seen by AFP showed.
And Australia, Japan, parts of China and Norway all experienced their hottest August on record, according to meteorological agencies.
“It’s clear that the temperatures are rising… above what we would like,” said Celeste Saulo, head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
“And it is because the action is not enough.”
While the exact average global temperature for August 2024 is not yet known, the EU’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has established it will be above the record 16.82 degrees Celsius (62.28 Fahrenheit) measured in August last year.
“Thresholds are all the time being beaten,” Saulo said, speaking in Singapore at a regional climate forum of local meteorological services.
