* HDD18[degrees]C (HDD65[degrees]F), predominant variable: The population-informed value of 3384 HDD18[degrees]C (6092 HDD65[degrees]F) was 100 HDD18[degrees]C (200 HDD65[degrees]F) lower (i.e., warmer) than the simple average value of 3488 HDD18[degrees]C (6279 HDD65[degrees]F) for the
WMO sites.
According to the
WMO, "High sea temperatures, together with other factors, contributed to exceptionally heavy rainfall and floods in many countries and extreme drought in others." It cited floods in Bangladesh and Britain and droughts in China and the U.S.
A key feature to the global interest in the
WMO story was likely its release in six languages (English, French, Spanish, Chinese, Russian, and Arabic), thereby enhancing opportunities for people of different languages to receive specific details on the
WMO evaluation without the filter of secondary translation.
The first nine months of the year were about 0.86 F (0.48 C) warmer than average, meaning 2013 so far is tied with 2003 as the seventh hottest year since the start of measurements in 1850, the
WMO said.
Other extremes this year have included record heat waves in Australia and floods from Sudan to Europe, the
WMO said.
Still, people are most concerned about Earth's surface, which has warmed by almost 0.7 [degrees] C since the end of the 19th century, according to
WMO. The hot spell of the past two decades may be unprecedented in the last 1,200 years, according to Jonathan T.
" CO2 specifically accounts for about 82 percent of the increase in radioactive forcing over the past decade, according to figures quoted in the
WMO report.
"We have broken new records for the concentration of greenhouse gases,"
WMO Secretary General Michel Jarraud highlighted, warning that "time is really not our side."
(Note that the specific weather file name and
WMO ID number are important, as some cities have multiple
WMO sites, each of which may have its own IWEC2/ TMY3/CWEC weather file.
The
WMO Commission for Climatology believes rising temperatures and more heatwaves and heavy rains mean the existing baseline, based on the climate averages between 1961 to 1990, is out of date as a guide, the
WMO said in a statement.
The World Meteorological Organization (
WMO) of the United Nations believes that super typhoon "Yolanda" (Haiyan) is a manifestation of global climate change that is both nature- and human-induced.
This he said while meeting a delegation of World Memon Organization (
WMO) led by President
WMO Abdul Sattar Dada prior to leaving for Dubai.
