Freak weather to continue in 2020

THE NEW decade has started out where 2019 left off — with high impact weather and climate related events, warned the World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, while confirming that 2019 was the second warmest year ever recorded. Australia had its hottest, driest year on record in 2019. This set the scene for massive bushfires that devastated people and property, wildlife, ecosystems and the environment. The warmest year ever recorded was 2016 that also saw a strong El Niño event, usually associated with warmer temperatures across the world in general. In India this mostly causes erratic monsoons, floods and droughts. The first half of 2019 experienced weak El Niño conditions. Once the El Niño conditions abated, southwest monsoon picked up to record levels, flooding many parts. Nearly 2,000 people died. The season’s total rainfall was 109 per cent of the longperiod average and withdrew only in mid-October. The country also experienced one of the longest and most brutal cold waves in living memory in December 2019 (see ‘Cold trap’, January 16-31, 2020).

Temperatures around the world, especially on the oceans, were warmer than usual even after the El Niño conditions abated in July. WMO linked this to global warming. Extreme weather events will be more prominent in 2020, says WMO. The UK Met Office predicts that in 2020, the average global temperature will be more than 1.1oC higher than the preindustrial average, with a possible peak of 1.23oC. If that happens, 2020 will be the warmest year ever.

THE WORLD

ASIA RECORDED

SOUTH AMERICA

IN 2019

EUROPE SAW 4 HURRICANE/CYCLONE/

FOR MORE CARTOONS, SCAN

BITS

INDIA HAS waived off environmental clearance for onshore and offshore gas as well as oil exploration projects. The decision,which has been taken to reduce the country’s dependency on imported crude oil, can cause serious damage to islands,fishing areas,breeding grounds and migratory routes.India meets 83.8 per cent of its crude oild needs through imports in 2018-19,up from 78.3 per cent in 2014-15.Moreover,the production of crude oil and natural gas in India has gone down.