New Delhi: The world experienced the warmest April ever and the eleventh consecutive month of record-high temperatures, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed on Friday (May 10). Sea surface temperatures have been record high for the past 13 months, it said. The WMO said this is happening due to naturally occurring El Niño — unusual warming of waters in the central and eastern Pacific Ocean — and the additional energy trapped in the atmosphere and ocean by greenhouse gases from human activities.
A similar streak of record high temperatures happened previously during the strong El Niño event of 2015-2016.
Also Read: North Bengal Tea Industry Faces Crisis Due To Heat Wave
The average temperature of 15.03 degrees Celsius in April was 1.58 degrees Celsius higher than the month’s average for 1850-1900, the designated pre-industrial reference period, the WMO said citing data from the European climate agency – Copernicus Climate Change Service.
It was 0.67 degrees Celsius above the 1991-2020 average for April and 0.14 degrees Celsius above the previous high set in April 2016.
The record temperatures were accompanied by high-impact weather events – including intense heat in many parts of Asia, drought in southern Africa and extreme rainfall in the Arabian Peninsula. Persistent heavy rainfall in East Africa and southern Brazil has worsened in the first week of May, leading to devastating and deadly floods.
WMO climate expert Alvaro Silva said,
The high number of extreme weather and climate events (including record daily and monthly temperatures and rainfall amounts) are more likely in a warmer world. The sea surface temperature in several ocean basins, including in the tropical belt, continues to be record high, releasing more heat and moisture to the atmosphere and thus exacerbating conditions.
There were big temperature differences within Europe in April. Outside Europe, temperatures were most above average over northern and northeastern North America, Greenland, eastern Asia, northwest Middle East, parts of South America, and most of Africa.
Also Read: How Is Climate Change Impacting Human Health?
India suffered repeated heatwaves in April and the early part of May, with the India Meteorological Department issuing numerous advisories and warnings to protect people’s health. The highest maximum temperature of 47.2 degrees Celsius had been recorded at Gangetic West Bengal on April 30. Schools were closed in Bangladesh as a safety precaution against the dangerous heat.
Thailand recorded many new station temperature records – for instance, 44.1 degrees Celsius at Mueang Phetchabun Phetchabun on April 27, according to the Thailand Meteorological Department. In Myanmar, there were also new temperature records of 48.2 degrees Celsius at Chauk.
It was predominantly wetter than average over most of north-western, central and north-eastern Europe. Most of southern Europe was drier than average, according to Copernicus.
Conditions were wetter than average over central, eastern and southern North America, across Central Asia, the Persian Gulf countries, easternmost Asia, eastern Australia, southern Brazil. Heavy rainfall often led to floods.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which in its Season 10 is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Ayushmann Khurrana. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In a world post COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental well-being, self-care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
