2024 was Earth’s warmest year on record – Liam Dutton – Channel 4 News

It’s official. 2024 was Earth’s warmest year on record, according to Copernicus – Europe’s climate agency.

Even though the confirmation only came today, the scale of last year’s perpetual global warmth meant that climate scientists were virtually certain in the autumn that 2024 would be a record breaker.

The global average temperature was 1.6C above pre-industrial levels, making it the first calendar year where 1.5C has been surpassed.

It also means that the past 10 years (2015-2024) have been the warmest on record globally.

The primary cause of the warmth is human-induced climate change – fuelled by greenhouse gas emissions. El Niño, the naturally occurring warming cycle of the Pacific Ocean, also played a small part.

High water vapour

In 2024, the total amount of water vapour in the atmosphere reached a record value, at about 5% above the 1991–2020 average, surpassing the previous record set in 2016.

As Earth’s atmosphere warms, it is able to hold more moisture – roughly 7% more for each 1C rise in temperature.

More moisture in Earth’s atmosphere increases the potential for extreme rainfall events to deliver even greater amounts of rain, which in turn can worsen flooding.

Ocean warmth

It wasn’t just the atmosphere that saw record warmth, with sea surface temperatures (SST) significantly above average over the extra-polar ocean.

The extra-polar ocean is the area of our planet’s oceans which lies between 60ºN and 60ºS – basically the oceans outside of the northern and southern polar regions.

The SST in this region were at record levels for the time of year from January to June 2024, and the second warmest on record from July to December.

High ocean temperatures not only affect marine life, but also weather patterns – for example, making more energy available for hurricanes and typhoons to intensify quicker and become stronger.

Extreme weather

It’s long been known, and proven, that a warming climate has a huge influence on our weather, making it even more extreme.

Worsening floods, droughts, storms and extreme heat are affecting millions of people around the world – especially in developing countries.

Natural habitats and animal species are being damaged or even destroyed – unable to cope with the pressure that new extremes of weather are placing upon them.

What about 2025?

As 2025 begins, the predictions don’t bode well for the months ahead. According to the Met Office, this year is expected to be one of the three warmest on record globally, probably falling just behind 2024 and 2023.

With an increasingly warm planet becoming the new norm, it’s inevitable that the extremes of weather we’ve seen in recent years will likely be repeated to an equal, if not greater, degree.