UN: This Summer Has Been the Hottest on Record
2023-09-07
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1The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says Earth just had its hottest summer ever in the Northern Hemisphere.
2Summer ends on September 22 this year in the world's northern half.
3Last month was the hottest August ever recorded with modern equipment since 1979.
4It was also the second hottest month ever measured, behind only July 2023.
5The WMO and the European climate service Copernicus made the announcement Wednesday.
6August was about 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial averages.
7That is the limit world leaders have said the world must not pass.
8Scientists, however, are more concerned about temperature increases over many years and not just a few months.
9So far, Copernicus said 2023 has been the second hottest year that it has recorded, behind only 2016.
10But the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer, a website, reported that daily September temperatures are higher than those recorded for the same period in earlier years.
11The WMO also said the world's oceans were the hottest ever recorded at nearly 21 degrees Celsius.
12Water covers more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface.
13"The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement.
14"Dog days of summer" is an expression used to describe the time of hot and humid weather during the summer.
15The expression might have come from ancient Greece when extreme heat was said to drive both dogs and humans insane.
16Scientists blame the heat on the burning of coal, oil and natural gas and the added influence from El Niño for the warming climate.
17El Niño is a temporary warming of the southern Pacific Ocean that affects weather worldwide.
18The weather event changes weather around the world and even more so in its second year.
19Climatologist Andrew Weaver was not surprised by the numbers.
20He said governments have not taken global warming seriously enough.
21He expressed concern that the public will forget the issue when temperatures fall again.
22"It's time for global leaders to start telling the truth," said Weaver who is a professor at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria in Canada.
23"We will not limit warming to 1.5 Celsius; we will not limit warming to 2.0 Celsius. It's all hands on deck now to prevent 3.0 Celsius global warming."
24Copernicus Climate Change Service Director Carlo Buontempo said the high temperatures were "not only new extremes" but continuing "record-breaking conditions."
25While the world's air and oceans were setting records for heat, Antarctica continued to set records for low amounts of sea ice, the WMO, the United Nations weather agency, said.
26"Antarctic sea ice extent was literally off the charts, and the global sea surface temperature was once again at a new record," WMO's secretary-general, Petteri Taalas, said in a statement.
27Taalas added, "It is worth noting that this is happening BEFORE we see the full warming impact of the El Nino event."
28I'm Dan Friedell.
1The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) says Earth just had its hottest summer ever in the Northern Hemisphere. 2Summer ends on September 22 this year in the world's northern half. 3Last month was the hottest August ever recorded with modern equipment since 1979. It was also the second hottest month ever measured, behind only July 2023. The WMO and the European climate service Copernicus made the announcement Wednesday. 4August was about 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial averages. That is the limit world leaders have said the world must not pass. Scientists, however, are more concerned about temperature increases over many years and not just a few months. 5So far, Copernicus said 2023 has been the second hottest year that it has recorded, behind only 2016. But the University of Maine's Climate Reanalyzer, a website, reported that daily September temperatures are higher than those recorded for the same period in earlier years. 6The WMO also said the world's oceans were the hottest ever recorded at nearly 21 degrees Celsius. Water covers more than 70 percent of the Earth's surface. 7"The dog days of summer are not just barking, they are biting," United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement. "Dog days of summer" is an expression used to describe the time of hot and humid weather during the summer. The expression might have come from ancient Greece when extreme heat was said to drive both dogs and humans insane. 8Scientists blame the heat on the burning of coal, oil and natural gas and the added influence from El Niño for the warming climate. El Niño is a temporary warming of the southern Pacific Ocean that affects weather worldwide. The weather event changes weather around the world and even more so in its second year. 9Climatologist Andrew Weaver was not surprised by the numbers. He said governments have not taken global warming seriously enough. He expressed concern that the public will forget the issue when temperatures fall again. 10"It's time for global leaders to start telling the truth," said Weaver who is a professor at the School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at the University of Victoria in Canada. "We will not limit warming to 1.5 Celsius; we will not limit warming to 2.0 Celsius. It's all hands on deck now to prevent 3.0 Celsius global warming." 11Copernicus Climate Change Service Director Carlo Buontempo said the high temperatures were "not only new extremes" but continuing "record-breaking conditions." 12While the world's air and oceans were setting records for heat, Antarctica continued to set records for low amounts of sea ice, the WMO, the United Nations weather agency, said. 13"Antarctic sea ice extent was literally off the charts, and the global sea surface temperature was once again at a new record," WMO's secretary-general, Petteri Taalas, said in a statement. 14Taalas added, "It is worth noting that this is happening BEFORE we see the full warming impact of the El Nino event." 15I'm Dan Friedell. 16Jamey Keaten and Seth Borenstein reported this story for The Associated Press. Hai Do adapted it for VOA Learning English. 17____________________________________________________ 18Words in This Story 19bark -v. to make a short, loud noise similar to the call of a dog 20all hands on deck -idiomatic expression to call for everyone in a group to become involved 21off the charts -idiomatic expression an area that has not been explored or experienced before; unknown territory 22impact -n. the influence of something