The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has released a report predicting that the coming years will see continued heat records, with temperatures expected to remain at or near record levels. According to the report, the average global temperature for each year between 2025 and 2029 is likely to be between 1.2°C and 1.9°C higher than the average for the years 1850-1900.
The organization estimates an 80% chance that at least one of the years between 2025 and 2029 will be warmer than the current record, set in 2024. Furthermore, there is an 86% chance that at least one year will be more than 1.5°C above the pre-industrial level. The report does not provide global predictions for individual years.
The WMO assesses the likelihood of the average warming over a five-year period for 2025-2029 exceeding 1.5°C at 70%. This probability has increased from 47% in the previous year’s report for the period 2024-2028 and from 32% in the report for 2023-2027. The organization warns that every additional degree of warming will lead to more severe heatwaves, extreme rainfall, intense droughts, the melting of ice sheets, glaciers and sea ice, as well as the warming of the oceans and the rise of the sea level.