El Nino stays strong, experts fear impact on winter, 2024

THE JUNE AND AUGUST MONTHS TOGETHER WERE THE WARMEST SINCE 1850, WITH TEMPERATURES ON LAND ALONE RECORDING 1.51°C ABOVE THE 19912020 BASE PERIOD, US' NOAA SAID

- Jayashree Nandi

There is about a 95% chance that 2023 will be the warmest or the second-warmest year on record, a key US government agency said in a briefing on Thursday and warned that several more months possibly stretching into 2024 - could continue the heat trend thanks to the El Nino weather pattern remaining strong.

Between January and August, global land and ocean temperatures were 1.06°C above the base period of 1991 to 2020, making it the second warmest January to August period in history, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

"Nobody knows when this is going to end but El Nino is still strengthening. As a result of that, we expect heat to continue for the rest of 2023 with a 95% chance of this being the warmest or second warmest year on record. It's possible that 2024 could be even warmer than 2023. We anticipate to be in this record category globally for several months to come," said Karin Gleason, monitoring section chief, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information.