Our 54 may be ‘Asian record’

GENEVA, July 26, (Agencies): The UN weather agency says it suspects a 54-degree Celsius (129.2 Fahrenheit) temperature recorded in Kuwait has set a record for the eastern hemisphere.

The World Meteorological Organization said Tuesday it is setting up a committee to look into whether the temperature recorded Thursday in Mitrabah, Kuwait, was a new high for the hemisphere and in Asia. WMO’s Omar Baddour says it’s “likely” to be an eastern hemisphere record.

Last week, swaths of North Africa and the Middle East were hit by heatwaves that have become more frequent over the last half-century, and Earth is fresh off the hottest six months on record.

WMO says the world record high of 56.7 Celsius (134 Fahrenheit) was recorded at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California, in 1913.

Record temperatures in the first half of 2016 have taken scientists by surprise despite widespread recognition that extreme weather events are becoming more frequent and intense, the director of the World Climate Research Programme said.

The earth is on track for its hottest year on record with June marking the 14th straight month of record heat, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said last week.

Temperatures recorded mainly in the northern hemisphere in the first six months of the year, coupled with an early and fast Arctic sea ice melt and “new highs” in heat-trapping carbon dioxide levels, point to quickening climate change, it said.

“What concerns me most is that we didn’t anticipate these temperature jumps,” said David Carlson, director of the WMO’s climate research programme, late on Monday.

“We predicted moderate warmth for 2016, but nothing like the temperature rises we’ve seen,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation by telephone from

Geneva.

“Massive temperature hikes, but also extreme events like floodings, have become the new normal,” Carlson said. “The ice melt rates recorded in the first half of 2016, for example — we don’t usually see those until later in the year.”

He said sudden temperature rises could endanger people, animals and water systems.

“Also critical is the fact that people survive the heat by using more energy for cooling, thus further depleting the world’s resources,” Carlson said.

Carlson said although “the uncertainty surrounding extreme weather events can

be used to deny or avoid the issue of climate change,” their increased frequency has drawn greater attention from the international community.

“The question is shifting from ‘has the climate changed?’ to ‘by how much?’,” he said.

“Statistically we need to get better at predicting not only how frequent and intense these events will be — but how long they will last.”

Key to understanding extreme weather will be the availability of data across the globe, Carlson said.

“We have good data for North America and Europe — on precipitation for example — but just don’t have enough records in Central Africa, Central America and the Arctic.”

Carlson called for global leaders to put climate action higher on national agendas following the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to well below 2°C (3.6°F) above pre-industrial levels.

“The world leaders making serious commitments to tackle climate change are currently few and far between,” he said.

However, action at the government level will only happen with pressure from citizens themselves, he added.

“The Clean Air Act, for example, that was all won by the people,” Carlson said, referring to a US law designed to increase pollution controls on vehicles and manufacturers.