NORTH CAROLINA -- We are about to wrap up the warmest decade on record for the planet. That is according to a preliminary State of the Global Climate report released Tuesday by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). 

  • Each decade since the 1980s has been warmer than the last
  • For the year itself, 2019 is on track to be the second or third hottest year on record based on global temperatures
  • Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached a record level in 2018 and the WMO states levels of the greenhouse gas have continued to rise in 2019

2016, which started with a strong El Nino pattern, is the warmest.

Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere reached a record level in 2018 and the WMO states levels of the greenhouse gas have continued to rise in 2019.  Carbon dioxide lasts in the atmosphere for centuries and can last even longer in our oceans.  

There is a near unanimous consensus among climate scientists around the globe that increased levels of greenhouse gas emissions like carbon dioxide are leading to a warming global climate.  

“If we do not take urgent climate action now, then we are heading for a temperature increase of more than 3°C by the end of the century, with ever more harmful impacts on human wellbeing,” WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas said.

Taalas also stated, “On a day-to-day basis, the impacts of climate change play out through extreme and 'abnormal' weather. And, once again in 2019, weather and climate related risks hit hard. Heatwaves and floods which used to be 'once in a century' events are becoming more regular occurrences. Countries ranging from the Bahamas to Japan to Mozambique suffered the effect of devastating  tropical cyclones. Wildfires swept through the Arctic and Australia.”

The final State of the Global Climate report that includes all climate data from 2019 is scheduled to be released in March 2020.