HedgehogCycling.co.uk

Cycling in Yorkshire & Beyond

Header image with bicycles

State of the Global Climate 2022 – WMO

WMO temperature anomalies 2022
WMO temperature anomalies 2022

The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has published its provisional State of the Global Climate report 2022.

Some of the most important points are highlighted by a video:



They include:

  • Earth has just had the 8 warmest years on record
  • human activities are fuelling the heat
  • extreme weather (droughts and floods) affected millions and cost billions in 2022
  • so far we are +1.15C above the pre-industrial global average temperature
  • there was unprecedented melting of Europe’s glaciers in 2022
  • the rate of sea level rise has doubled since 1993
  • ocean heat is at record levels
  • the effects of the greenhouse gases we are pumping into the atmosphere will last for hundreds and thousands of years

Full Report

The full WMO report runs to 26 pages.

It says that concentrations of the three main greenhouse gases – CO2, methane and NO2 – reached record highs in 2021 and continue to increase in 2022.

The 8 years from 2015 to 2022 are likely to be the eight warmest years on record. This is despite cool La Nina conditions since 2020; they are expected to last until late 2022.

Global mean average temperature
Global mean average temperature

Alpine Glaciers

In Switzerland 6% of the total volume of glacial ice was lost between 2021 and 2022.

Between 2001 and 2022, the volume of glacier ice in the country decreased from:

  • 77km3 to
  • 49km3
Loss of ice from Swiss glaciers
Loss of ice from Swiss glaciers

The European Alps more generally lost record amounts of ice – 3 to 4m of thickness. This was due to the low amount of Winter snowfall, Saharan sand blowing in and darkening the surface of the snowpack, and long and persistent heatwaves through the Summer.

Sea Level

Since January 2020 global sea level has risen by 10mm.

High Impact Events

There have been several high impact events in 2022.

Pakistan had its hottest March and April on record; that was followed by exceptional rainfall and flooding in July and August.

Some of the headline figures from the floods include:

  • 9% of Pakistan’s total land area was inundated at some time during August 2022
  • 1,700 people died
  • 936,000 head of livestock died
  • 33 million people were affected and 7.9 million displaced

China had its most extensive and long-lasting heatwave since national records began, from June to August 2022.

Hurricane Ian caused storm-surge inundation in south west Florida in September 2022.

State of the Global Climate 2022 – WMO