Heat records were set around the world. For example, in Phoenix, USA, the temperature rose above 43 degrees Celsius for 18 days in a row.
The current year is likely to be the hottest in the history of measurements, says the EU’s Copernicus service, which monitors climate change.
The past summer has been record hot. For example, August of this year was the hottest August in the history of measurements.
During the summer, heat waves, extreme drought and wildfires hit several countries, including Southern Europe. No less than four heat waves were experienced in Spain during the summer.
Heat records were also measured in India and Japan. In Phoenix, the capital of the state of Arizona in the United States, the temperature rose above 43 degrees Celsius for 18 days in a row.
It has also been exceptionally warm in the southern hemisphere in the middle of winter there. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the temperature rose to no less than 30 degrees Celsius on the first day of August. Also in Australia, the winter was the warmest in the history of measurements, which is feared to foreshadow bad wildfires next summer.
In addition to the atmosphere, the waters of the seas also warmed to a record this summer.
Smoke from wildfires as a problem
of the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres according to which “climate collapse” has begun. He reminds us that scientists have been warning for a long time about the consequences of humanity’s dependence on fossil fuels.
– Our climate is collapsing faster than we can adapt. Extreme weather events are hitting every corner of the globe, he said.
According to the UN, climate change worsens heat waves and also worsens air quality due to, among other things, smoke from wildfires.
– Heat waves degrade air quality and have a wide impact on human health, ecosystems, agriculture and, above all, our daily lives, representative of the UN’s World Meteorological Organization WMO Petteri Taalas said in a statement.
He reminded that climate change and air quality cannot be separated.
For example, the recent wildfires in Greece, the United States and Canada are a concrete indication of what lies ahead. The smoke caused by the fires dramatically reduced the air quality in big cities like New York and Athens.