The anomalous summer of 2020 sets temperature records and promises a season of devastating hurricanes, fires, droughts and floods on the planet. Scientists predict that 2020 will be in the top five in the 141-year history of observation.
Similar records are becoming a very bad tradition: 19 of the last 20 years are in the top twenty, and the last 6 years are in the top six in this ranking. If all goes well, in a few months they will be seven out of seven.
In this case, the assumption that global warming is accelerating will be confirmed next time. Therefore, the provisions of the Paris Climate Agreement will have to be reconsidered. But time is not right for this: the coronavirus pandemic is plunging the world into a severe economic crisis, and the costly "green" diary is taking a back seat in most countries around the world.
July 2020 was one of the three hottest months since 1880: the surface temperature of the land and oceans was 0.92 ℃ higher than the average temperature for the twentieth century. It was only 0.01 degrees below the absolute record of July last year due to the colder winter in the southern hemisphere.
Gareth Redmond, a spokesman for the World Wildlife Fund, said: "These are not records of effort. Tropical heat can sometimes be pleasant for people in countries like the UK, but in reality it is a bright reminder of the global climate crisis."
Nine of the hottest ten for July have been in the last decade. Six - with the last six. Extreme heat is unpleasant for many reasons. For example, it can be fatal. According to the Royal Meteorological Service of the United Kingdom, over the past few years, heat has killed more people than any other air cataclysm.
Rising surface temperatures lead to drying of the soil and melting of ice. In July of this year, the Arctic ice sheet was less than a quarter of the average of the last 40 years and the smallest of all observations. The North Sea route is virtually ice-free.
A year before the previous record, a piece of Polish-sized ice had melted in the Arctic. Over the past 45 years, its volume has shrunk even more, and by the middle of the century, the ice in the North will have completely disappeared.
This year, the hurricane season also started very early, and already in July, a total of nine storms were recorded in the tropics - a record for mid-summer.
Strong winds near the equator indicate the emergence of the phenomenon of La Niña - a drop in temperature in the Pacific Ocean and promise a season of shock hurricanes. The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts 19-25 strong cyclones instead of the usual 12. 7-11 of them are expected to turn into hurricanes, and 3-6 will be completely destructive.
Half of Europe suffered from heatstroke in July, banning the supply of water to orchards, while the other half covered themselves with blankets and drew water from flooded poles.
According to the European Center for Copernicus Climate Change Service, Finland received twice as much rainfall and 1-2 degrees below normal. Portugal has had the warmest July since 1990, and France since 1959.
Scientists warn that global warming is threatened by sharp differences in temperature and humidity, natural cataclysms and the transformation of temperate climates into extreme climates. The relative humidity on the planet has been declining for the last 40 years, not because of precipitation, but because the air is warming faster and the difference in temperature at the surface of the oceans is increasing.
Deviation from the norm not only occurs faster, but also lasts longer. Europe is suffering from the third consecutive drought in the summer, which is reflected in the harvest and the economy as a whole.
The most striking example of warming and its consequences was observed in Death Valley, California: + 54.4 ℃. Then, for the first time in 20 years, there were power outages across the state: air conditioners and refrigerators overloaded the network. In California, the average temperature generally rises faster than on the planet, and precipitation decreases.
NOAA scientists predict that 2020 will be among the five hottest in the entire 141-year history of observation, with a 75 percent probability that it will be a record year.
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