Global warming likely to breach 1.5C threshold for first time

World Meteorological Organization raises alarm, saying at least one of the next five years will be the hottest on record. For the first time, global temperatures are now more likely than not to breach 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming until 2027, the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. How can we accept this growing number year on year and wonder why humanitarian needs are increasing?” With a 66 percent chance of temporarily reaching 1.5C by 2027, “it’s the first time in history that its more likely than not that we will exceed 1.5C”, said Adam Scaife, the head of long-range prediction at Britain’s Met Office Hadley Centre who worked on the WMO’s latest Annual to Decadal Climate Update. The WMO also found a 98 percent chance that one of the next five years will be the hottest on record, surpassing 2016, which saw global temperatures affected by about 1.3C of warming. “We’re even seeing extreme snowfall in regions, because although it needs to be cold to snow, there are also more areas which previously were too cold to have much moisture in the air – and now they’re seeing a lot of snow.” The 2015 Paris Agreement set out long-term goals to guide countries to reduce gas emissions and limit the global temperature increase in this century to 2C, while working towards a greater limit of 1.5C.