Petteri Taalas News

The Middle East plays host to its second straight U.N. climate conference over the next two weeks, with countries hoping to agree on new ways to keep the planet from catastrophic heating by the end of the century

By Charlotte Van Campenhout

Libya's coastal city of Derna has soared to 11,300 as search efforts continue following a massive flood fed by the breaching of two dams in heavy rains, the Libyan Red Crescent said Thursday. Marie el-Drese, the aid group's secretary-general, told The Associated Press by phone that a further 10,100 people are reported missing in the Mediterranean city. Health authorities previously put the death toll in Derna at 5,500.

EU climate monitor said on Wednesday. Heatwaves, droughts and wildfires struck Asia, Africa, Europe and North America over the last three months, with dramatic impact on economies, ecosystems and human health. The average global temperature in June, July and August was 16.77 degrees Celsius (62.19 degrees Fahrenheit), surpassing the previous 2019 record of 16.48C by a wide margin, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a report. «The three months that we've just had are the warmest in approximately 120,000 years, so effectively human history,» C3S deputy director Samantha Burgess told AFP. Last month was the hottest August on record and warmer than all other months except July 2023. «Climate breakdown has begun,» said UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, echoing famous testimony before the US Congress 35 years ago, in which government scientist James Hansen declared that global warming had begun. «Our climate is imploding faster than we can cope,» Guterres added. Also on Wednesday, the World Meteorological Organization warned that more frequent and intense heatwaves are generating a «witch's brew» of air pollution that shortens human lifespans and damages other life forms. «Heatwaves worsen air quality, with knock-on effects on human health, ecosystems, agriculture and indeed our daily lives,» WMO chief Petteri Taalas said in a statement. Record-high global sea surface temperatures played a major role in stoking heat throughout the summer, with marine heatwaves hitting the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean Sea. «Looking at the additional heat we have in the surface ocean, the probability is that 2023 will end up being the warmest year on record,» Burgess said. If the Northern Hemisphere

Working at Leipzig University in Germany, Haustein's analysis corroborates the death knell sounded by other scientists, who had warned that July was likely to be the hottest month on record. «The extreme weather which has affected many millions of people in July is unfortunately the harsh reality of climate change and a foretaste of the future,» Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, said in a statement, reports NYT.

This year’s tourism season has been extra hot, with temperatures in the northern hemisphere reaching record-breaking levels that are set to keep intensifying.

The war on Ukraine "may be seen as a blessing" from a climate perspective, says the head of the UN weather agency.