This is not a feeling: 2018 has been the hottest year in history

To top it off, the Top 4 is composed for the years 2015, 2016 and 2017. "The rate of global warming over the last four years has been exceptional, both on the Earth's surface and in the oceans"warned Petteri Taalas, Secretary General of WMO.

"The long-term temperature trend is more important than the temperature of each year, and this trend is on the rise," said Taalas. In this direction, the average score of 2018 was even 0.38 degrees higher than that recorded between 1981 and 2010.

The hottest year ever recorded was 2016, which, due to the influence of an intense episode of El Niño, was 1.2 ° C above the pre-industrial era.

But not everything is a heat problem.

"Temperatures are only part of the problem. In 2018, extreme weather has affected many countries and millions of people, and has had devastating repercussions on economies and ecosystems, "said Taalas.

For the owner of the WMO, "reducing greenhouse gas emissions and climate adaptation measures should have priority in the whole world"

The most immediate result is the one that hits the world today, namely extreme temperatures such as the atypical heat that hit our territory in recent days or the -45 ° marks recorded in countries like the United States or Canada at the same time.

The WMO has predicted that 2019 will be similar to 2018 judging by Australian trademarks so far this summer. "The cold of the eastern United States does not deny climate change"said Taalas.

"Part of these abnormal cold temperatures could be due to radical changes in the Arcticwhere warming is happening twice as fast as the global average and where much of the region's ice has melted, "he said.