Partial photo: Grant Durr
The 2020 World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Global Climate said it was one of the three warmest years on record, and the past six have been the warmest recorded years. Arctic heat records include 38°C on June 20 in Verkhoyansk, marking the highest recorded temperature north of the Arctic Circle. Greenhouse gas concentrations including CO2, methane, and nitrous oxide, continued to climb. Extreme events included “very extensive flooding” (Africa), severe drought (South America), extremely large wildfires, including the biggest ever seen in California and Colorado, and an above average number of tropical storms. Ocean acidification and deoxygenation continued, and more than 80% of the ocean area had at least one marine heatwave. For just the second time on record, Arctic sea-ice extent minimum after the summer melt covered less than 4 million square kilometers.
www.commondreams.org/news/2021/04/19/un-chief-warns-world-verge-abyss-wmo-releases-climate-report