829. July 2023 World Weather and 2022 Asian Climate

On July 27, the United Nations announced that July 2023 is likely to set a record for the hottest month on record, signaling the end of global warming and the arrival of the era of global boiling. According to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), July is not over yet, but the past three weeks have been marked by life-threatening heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere, especially in North America, Southern Europe, and Asia, with the highest temperature (17.08°C) recorded on July 6, 2023, and the highest temperature ever recorded since July 3, 2016, which was 16.80°C on August 13. The temperature for the first 23 days of July 2023 was 16.95°C, already surpassing the record of 16.63°C set in 2019, the hottest July to date.

On the same day, WMO released the State of the Climate in Asia in 2022 which noted the increasing impact of extreme weather events and climate change in recent years. The report highlighted that agriculture in particular will continue to be significantly affected, and stressed the need for climate change adaptation to build resilient food systems.

According to the report, in Asia, which covers a vast Eurasian land area extending to the Arctic, the average temperature in 2022 will be the second or third hottest in recorded history, 0.73°C [0.63°C-0.78°C] higher than the 1991-2020 average, Nearly 1.68°C [1.60°C-1.74°C] higher than the 1961-1990 average (WMO's reference period), and warming at a faster rate than the global average.

In 2022, 81 climate- and weather-related disasters were reported in Asia (83% related to floods and typhoons/storms), claiming more than 5,000 lives, affecting the livelihoods of 50 million people, and causing economic losses of $36 billion.

In 2022, droughts were observed in many countries, including China, and large numbers of glaciers are melting in high mountain areas, with negative implications for future food and water security. Meanwhile, Pakistan received 60% of its normal annual rainfall during the first three weeks of the monsoon, causing severe flooding. In addition, sea surface temperatures (SST) are rising significantly in Asia, with the Arabian Sea, the Philippine Sea and the waters east of Japan experiencing an increase in SST of more than 0.5°C per decade, a rate three times faster than the global average.

The report warns that agriculture will be severely affected by the increased frequency and intensity of extreme events that will affect many parts of Asia in the future. Agriculture accounted for 25% of losses and damage from climate change-related disasters such as floods, droughts and typhoons. The report stresses the urgency of climate change adaptation planning to strengthen the resilience of the food system.
 

Reference
WMO (2023) State of the Climate in Asia 2022 (WMO-No. 1321) https://library.wmo.int/index.php?lvl=notice_display&id=22328

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki (Information Program)