The leap in temperatures over the past 13 months has exceeded the global heating forecasts – is this just a blip or a systemic shift?

Temperatures above 50C used to be a rarity confined to two or three global hotspots, but the World Meteorological Organization noted that at least 10 countries have reported this level of searing heat in the past year: the US, Mexico, Morocco, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran, Pakistan, India and China.

In Iran, the heat index – a measure that also includes humidity – has come perilously close to 60C, far above the level considered safe for humans.

Heatwaves are now commonplace elsewhere, killing the most vulnerable, worsening inequality and threatening the wellbeing of future generations. Unicef calculates a quarter of the world’s children are already exposed to frequent heatwaves, and this will rise to almost 100% by mid-century.

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
    199·
    3 months ago

    If the world was warming even faster than scientists thought it would, seemingly jumping years ahead of predictions, would that mean even more crucial decades of action had been lost?

    Yes. Yes it would.

    • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.zip
      102·
      3 months ago

      Rivers in Alaska have been running bronzish-orange… because the permafrost is melting.

      The ‘perma’ frost, is melting.

      That has huge amounts of methane locked up in at.

      Which is 8 to 80x more effective at being a greenhouse gas than CO2.

      And also ancient bacteria that could cause previously unknown kinds of diseases in wildlife and possibly humans, they now may or may not be seeping into the environment.

      …

      We have already had a consecutive 12 months at or above 1.5C global average temps, as of last month.

      …

      Shit’s looking pretty bleak.

      • FollyDolly@lemmy.world
        50·
        3 months ago

        Glaciers are reaching tipping points as well. Insane heat waves at both poles. It’s over guys. Most poeple don’t realize it yet but it’s over. Those glaciers and poles took an entire iceage to form, and they are not going to come back.

      • littlewonder@lemmy.world
        30·
        3 months ago

        Definitely don’t watch the Arctic Sinkhole documentary from PBS Nova if you like sleeping at night. It’s all about the trapped methane in the permafrost and the trapped gasses under the permafrost. Shit is getting real scary. It wasn’t even sensationalist.