Meteorological records for last year have shown that the average global temperature for the year was 14.73°C, making it the second warmest year on record after 2005, according to a report published by the Earth Policy Institute in Washington, USA. Although it wasn’t a new record high, it was a year of extreme weather, with many average temperature and precipitation records being exceeded.

The month of August was, for many regions, the warmest ever recorded; heatwaves gripped southeastern Europe – causing the deaths of up to 500 people – and Japan, where thermometers nudged 40.9°C, the highest temperature the country has ever witnessed. In the Arctic, summer sea-ice extent was 23 per cent below the 2005 record.

Many regions also suffered severe flooding. England and Wales endured the wettest period since records began between May and July, resulting in £3billion worth of flood damage to homes and businesses; hundreds of thousands of inhabitants across 15 African countries were displaced by rising floodwaters, which damaged crops and threatened food security; 25 million people in South Asia were affect by the worst flooding in decades; and parts of Mexico, Indonesia, China and Uruguay all experienced exceptional floods.

The contrasting patterns of extreme rainfall combined with intense heat are, according to some climate models, set to become more common as rising temperatures lead to greater rates of precipitation.


March 2008