The latest: An unusually warm April followed a top 3 hottest March, and indicates that the Earth is headed for yet another top 3 warmest year on record. In addition, Arctic sea ice extent reached a record low for April, NOAA reports. This follows recent news that carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere edged past 415 parts per million for the first time in human history, likely becoming the highest level on record in at least 3 million years.
By the numbers: For 2018, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.42°F (0.79°C) above the 20th century average, according to NOAA.
- According to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), global temperatures in 2018 were 1.5°F (0.83°C) warmer than the 1951–1980 mean.
- Analyses from the U.K. Met Office and the World Meteorological Organization also ranked 2018 among the top 4 warmest years on record.
- Each group relies on similar surface temperature data but uses different methods and baselines to fill in gaps between observing stations.
- According to NOAA, the annual global land and ocean temperature has increased at an average rate of 0.13°F (0.07°C) per decade since 1880. However, this rate has more than doubled, to 0.31°F (0.17°C) per decade, since 1981.
The big picture: “The impacts of long-term global warming are already being felt — in coastal flooding, heat waves, intense precipitation and ecosystem change,” Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA GISS, said in a press release.
- Since the 1880s, the average global surface temperature has risen about 2°F (1°C), which Schmidt — along with the vast majority of climate scientists — attributes largely to increased emissions of greenhouse gases due to human activities.
- Increasing average temperatures are most pronounced in the Arctic, where temperatures have jumped at more than twice the rate of the rest of the globe, triggering sea ice and land-based glaciers to melt.
- Record high annual temperatures over land surfaces were measured across much of Europe, New Zealand, and parts of the Middle East and Russia. No land areas were record cold for the year, NOAA found.
Between the lines: Global average surface temperatures are edging closer to the 1.5°C aspirational warming target contained in the Paris climate agreement, which many low-lying island nations see as key to their survival, but the world’s energy system is marching in the wrong direction for limiting global warming’s severity.
- Global carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oil and natural gas ticked up in 2018, to the highest levels in recorded history, according to the Global Carbon Project and the International Energy Agency.
- A separate report showed that U.S. carbon emissions from energy — which is the overwhelming cause of planet-warming emissions — jumped by 3.4% last year, ending years of declines.
- In order to meet the Paris agreement’s 1.5°C goal, global emissions of greenhouse gases would have to fall by 45% by 2030 and reach “net zero” by mid-century.
Flooded Arkansas, Oklahoma brace for more rain; Southeast gets record heat
Reuters | Daniel Trotta, Rich McKay
Flooded Arkansas and Oklahoma were bracing for more rain that will feed the already swollen Arkansas River, forecasters said on Monday, as Missouri deployed the National Guard in anticipation of further storms. With millions of Americans under flood warnings on the Memorial Day holiday, Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Illinois got deluged while Oklahoma and Arkansas got a reprieve for the most part. […] Floodwaters may take weeks to recede, Hayes said, as the heavy rains upriver will take time to drain. […] Arkansas and Oklahoma have already activated their National Guard forces. As the Central Plains dealt with rain, a heat wave set record daily temperatures in parts of the U.S. Southeast, where the mercury rose 10 to 15 degrees Fahrenheit above normal for this time of year, Hayes said.
