Earth forecast to have warmest decade on record – Met Office

THE next five years are likely to see temperatures of 1C or more above pre-industrial levels as the Earth experiences its warmest decade on record, the Met Office said.

Average global surface temperatures for 2019 to 2023 are forecast to be between 1.03C and 1.57C above the levels seen before the Industrial Revolution, the experts said.

If temperatures over the next five years are in line with the predictions, it will make the decade between 2014 and 2023 the hottest run of years in records reaching back to 1850.

The forecast is being made as climate experts around the world release information on global temperatures in 2018.

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said analysis of five leading international datasets showed the global average temperature last year was approximately 1C above pre-industrial levels of 1850-1900.

It means it was the fourth hottest year on record, coming behind only 2016, 2015 and 2017, and making the last four years the warmest recorded.

Professor Adam Scaife, head of long-range prediction at the Met Office, said: “2015 was the first year that global annual average surface temperatures reached 1C above pre-industrial levels, and the following three years have all remained close to this level.

“The global average temperature between now and 2023 is predicted to remain high, potentially making the decade from 2014 the warmest in more than 150 years of records.”