El Nino

July 8, 2024 6:41 PM

2024 could be world’s hottest year as June breaks records

Last month was the hottest June on record, the EU's climate change monitoring service said on Monday, continuing a streak of exceptional temperatures that some scientists said puts 2024 on track to be the world's hottest recorded year. Every month since June 2023 - 13 months in a row - has ranked as the planet's hottest since records began, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin. The lates...

June 21, 2024 3:25 PM

How climate change fuels extreme heat worldwide

Climate change is driving dangerous heat waves across the Northern Hemisphere this week and will continue to deliver dangerous weather for decades to come, research shows. "It is a worldwide heat wave that we are now suffering. That puts the heat under our decisions," said Christiana Figueres, a former U.N. climate agency chief. Here's how climate change is pushing heat to new extremes. HOW IS CLIMATE CHANGE DRIVING HEAT? As the continued burning of fossil fuels releases more carbon emission...

June 3, 2024 2:43 PM

El Nino weather pattern likely to swing back to La Nina this year: UN weather agency

The El Nino weather pattern that can cause extreme events such as wildfires and tropical cyclones is forecast to swing back into generally cooler La Nina conditions later this year, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Monday. El Nino is a naturally occurring warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific, while La Nina is characterised by cold ocean temperatures in the equatorial Pacific region and is linked to floods and drought. WMO said there was a ...

May 24, 2024 12:26 PM

South Asia faces extreme weather with heatwave in India, cyclone in Bangladesh

South Asia is experiencing extreme weather conditions, with at least nine killed due to a suspected heat stroke in India's west, while parts of Bangladesh and neighbouring states are likely to be hit by a cyclone in a couple of days. Extreme temperatures throughout Asia last month were made worse most likely as a result of human-driven climate change, a team of international scientists said. India's summer temperatures often peak in May, but scientists have predicted more heatwave days than us...

May 17, 2024 3:56 PM

More than 60% of world’s coral reefs may have bleached in past year, NOAA says

Nearly two-thirds of the world's coral reefs have been subjected to heat stress bad enough to trigger bleaching over the past year, the leading agency monitoring coral reefs said on Thursday. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced last month that the world's coral reefs were in the throes of a fourth mass bleaching event, as climate change combined with an El Nino climate pattern has pushed ocean temperatures to record highs. Now, the agency reports some 60.5...

May 1, 2024 11:26 AM

El Nino, water management issues blamed for snarling Panama Canal

The El Nino climate phenomenon, not climate change, drove lower rainfall last year that reduced the Panama Canal's water levels and contributed to shipping restrictions that disrupted global trade, a study released on Wednesday found. Prioritizing water for human consumption rather than for the canal also played a role in shipping restrictions, according to the study by research consortium World Weather Attribution. Panama experienced its third-driest year on record in 2023, leading the canal ...