UN report: Human footprint 'increasingly visible' in climate
Hot and wild and with an "increasingly visible human footprint"—that's how the UN weather agency sums up the global climate in the past five years.
In a report released Tuesday at international climate talks in Morocco, the World Meteorological Organization said 2011–2015 was the hottest five-year period on record.
That comes as no surprise as WMO's annual reports have showed record average temperatures in 2014 and 2015. But the agency said the five-year report provides a better overview of warming trends and extreme events such as prolonged droughts and recurrent heatwaves.
"We just had the hottest five-year period on record, with 2015 claiming the title of hottest individual year. Even that record is likely to be beaten in 2016," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
