2014 is on course to be the hottest year since records began, reports the BBC.
Key information from the article linked above includes
- The first 10 months of 2014 showed global average air temperature about 0.57 C above the long-term average, with this rising to 1.6 C for the UK only
- This provisional information means that 14 of the 15 warmest years ever recorded have all occured in the 21st century
- The trend confirms that climate change continues to take effect
- A number of record-breaking weather events have occurred this year including the major UK storms last winter, drought in the western USA, and the town of Guelmin in Morocco being swamped by over one year’s rainfall in just four days
- Met Office modelling shows that 2014’s record temperature was made ten times more likely due to the presence of carbon emissions in the atmosphere