Many extreme events in 2023 are consistent with predictions of a warmer world, research shows

New Delhi: Multiple regions around the world experiencing extreme heat simultaneously could become an ’emerging feature’ of a warmer planet, according to a new study.

The new research assessing 2023 weather and climate also said many of last year’s extreme events are consistent with previous predictions of a warmer world.

Putting the events of the hottest year on record into perspective, researchers say that in a warmer future, more events with record-breaking hot temperatures earlier in the year and cyclones that exacerbate extreme rainfall events are in order.

Change in the seasonality of extreme events is also another trend the researchers observed.

“We see extremes appearing in seasons when they are generally less likely. For example, heat waves appeared in the spring of 2023 in southwestern Europe, Brazil, Morocco and South Africa,” said Robin Clark of the Met Office in Britain, a co-researcher. author of the study published in the journal Advances in Atmospheric Science, said.

Furthermore, multiple regions around the world experiencing extreme heat at the same time could become an “emerging feature” of a warmer planet, the researchers said.

Many regions in North America, Southern Europe, North Africa and Asia collectively experienced record-breaking hot extremes in July last year.

The team also found that intense cyclones exacerbated extreme rainfall events, such as the September floods in Libya and the July 2023 floods in northern China.

They said an increase in such events is also consistent with predictions about the future under continued global warming.

“Many of the events of 2023 are consistent with expected future changes in a warmer world, and demonstrate the challenges to come, while some were a surprise, suggesting there is still more to learn about what is potentially around the corner lies,” says Wenxia Zhang of the Institute. of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the lead author of the paper, said.

Droughts in California in the US and the Horn of Africa turned into floods in 2023, and more such events are expected to occur in the coming decades, the authors said.

The compound effects of drought-to-flood events can be more severe than when floods and droughts occur separately, they said.

The researchers also found that wildfires, such as those that occurred in Hawaii and Canada last year, are causing widespread damage, along with threatening emissions targets aimed at limiting global warming.

Ecosystems are under enormous pressure due to forest fires, they say.

The authors called for better forecasts and early warning systems to be better prepared for climate hazards.