Past 12 Months Were The Hottest Ever, India Saw Over Five Heatwave Days Since September: Study

The past twelve months till October was the hottest year-long period on Earth ever recorded, a new study has said.

In addition to the 12-month record this year, this July was the hottest month ever, and this September was the most anomalously hot month, meaning its temperature was the highest above the long-term average.

BCCL

Why the findings are bad for climate goals

According to a study conducted by Climate Central, which looked into international data and calculated that from November 2022 to October 2023, Earth's temperature was 1.3 degrees C (2.3 degrees F) above preindustrial levels, a sign of how close the world is to missing that goal and experiencing ever-worsening impacts of climate change.

What is Climate Shift Index?

Climate Central is a group of independent scientists that reports on facts about changing climate and how it affects people's lives. It has created a Climate Shift Index (CSI) system to quantify the local influence of climate change on daily temperatures across the globe. The higher the index, the higher the temperature.

BCCL

The report said that 90 per cent of people worldwide, and 49 per cent in the US, experienced at least ten days of temperatures very strongly influenced by climate change.

Which countries had lower temperatures?

The Climate Central report revealed that only two countries around the world were below average -- Lesotho and Iceland. Europe and North Africa were the hottest international spots, with some countries running more than 3¡ãF above average.

Weather attribution analysis reveals that during the 12-month span, 5.7 billion people were exposed to at least 30 days of above-average temperatures made at least three times more likely by the influence of climate change, or level-three on Climate Central's Climate Shift Index.

BCCL

That exposure included nearly every resident of Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Italy, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Mexico, and every Caribbean and Central American nation.

Heat wave in India

In India, 1.2 billion residents -- 86 per cent of the population -- experienced Climate Shift Index level-three temperatures on 30 or more days. In China, that figure was 513 million residents -- 35 per cent of the population; and in the United States, 88 million -- 26 per cent of the population - experienced at least 30 days of temperatures made at least three times more likely by climate change.

In India, states including Kerala, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar, Puducherry, Mizoram, and Karnataka experienced a higher number of heat waves than others.

For more on the news, sports, and current affairs from around the world, please visit Indiatimes News.