Fwd: climate reality
JBL
From: Bob Donnan <donnanl...@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, Aug 15, 2025, 5:07 AM
Subject: climate reality
To:
14 August 2025
According to the 35th annual State of the Climate report, greenhouse gas concentrations, the global temperature across land and oceans, global sea level, and ocean heat content all reached record highs in 2024, and glaciers lost the most ice of any year on record.
The international review of the world’s climate, published by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS), is based this year on contributions from 589 scientists in 58 countries.
For decades, the State of the Climate has provided the most comprehensive annual update on Earth’s climate — illuminating not only key indicators like global CO2 but also notable weather events, regional phenomena, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, and ice, as well as in space.
“The State of the Climate report is an annual scientific landmark,” says American Meteorological Society President David J. Stensrud. “It is a truly global effort, in which hundreds of researchers from universities, government agencies, and more come together to provide a careful, rigorously peer-reviewed report on our planet’s climate. High-quality observations and findings from all over the world are incorporated, underscoring the vital importance of observations to monitor, and climate science to understand, our environment.
The results affirm the reality of our changing climate, with 2024 global temperatures reaching record highs."
Notable findings from the international report include:
·
Earth’s greenhouse gas concentrations were
the highest on record.
The growth from 2023 to 2024 was 3.4 ppm, equal with 2015/16 as the highest in the record since the
1960s.
·
Record temperatures were notable across the
globe.
All six major global temperature datasets used for analysis in the report agree
that the last 10 years
(2015–24) were the 10 warmest on record.
·
The water cycle continued to intensify.
Extreme rainfall, as characterized by the annual maximum daily rainfall over
land, was the wettest on
record.
·
El Niño conditions contributed to record-high
sea surface temperatures.
The ocean experienced a record-high
global average of 100 marine heatwave days and a new record low of nine
marine cold spell days.
·
Ocean heat and global sea level were the
highest on record.
Global mean sea level was a record high for the 13th consecutive year. The
global ocean heat content, measured from the ocean’s surface to a depth of 2000
m (approximately 6561 ft), continued
to increase, and reached new record highs in 2024.
·
The Arctic saw near-record warmth.
The Arctic had its second-warmest
year in the 125-year record.
·
Antarctica saw continued low sea ice.
The Arctic maximum sea ice extent in 2024 was the second smallest in the 46-year satellite record.
·
Glaciers around the world continued to melt.
The Antarctic daily minimum and maximum sea ice extents for the year were each
the second lowest on
record behind 2023, marking a continuation of low and record-low sea ice
extent since 2016.
·
Tropical cyclone activity was below average,
but storms still set records around the globe.
Hurricane Helene brought destruction from Florida to the southern Appalachian
Mountains. The storm caused devastating record flooding that contributed to
over 200 deaths, the most in the United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Hurricane Milton impacted Florida’s Gulf Coast just 12 days after Helene
affected the region, marking the
shortest time between major (Category 3 or higher) hurricane landfalls
in Florida.
-------
Special Supplement to the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society Vol. 106 No. 8, August 2025
Compiled by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information, State of the Climate in 2024 is based on contributions from scientists from around the world. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space.
Abstract —J. BLUNDEN, J. REAGAN, AND R. J. H. DUNN
In 2024, a strong El Niño at the beginning of the year transitioned to neutral conditions in boreal spring and then to La Niña-like conditions by year’s end. Atmospheric concentrations of Earth’s major greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide—continued to climb to record-high levels.
The annual global average carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere rose to 422.8±0.1 ppm, which is a 52% increase over the pre-industrial level of ~278 ppm. The growth from 2023 to 2024 was 3.4 ppm, equal to the observed change between 2015 and 2016, which is the highest in the record since the 1960s.
The annual global temperature across land and ocean was the highest recorded in the observational record dating back to 1850, breaking the record just recently set in 2023. The warmth was widespread. Of the countries that report annual temperature rankings, dozens across the world observed record warmth for the year, including India, China, South Africa, and Brazil. Regions—including North America, the Caribbean, Africa, Oceania, and Europe as a whole—also experienced record warmth.
Extreme temperature records were set in individual locations as well. On 7–8 October, Villamontes, Bolivia, recorded a new national record maximum temperature of 47.0°C. In central Myanmar, 48.2°C was recorded at Chank on 28 April, setting a new maximum temperature record for the country and breaking the previous record of 47.4°C set just 22 days earlier at the same location.
Across the Arctic, the annual surface air temperature was the second highest in the 125-year record. An intense August heatwave brought all-time record-high temperatures to parts of the northwest North American Arctic, and record high August monthly mean temperatures at Svalbard Airport reached more than 11°C. In September, temperatures above 30°C were observed in Norway, marking the latest time of the year in the observational record that such high temperatures have occurred there.
Arctic maximum sea ice extent in 2024 was the second smallest in the 46-year satellite record, while minimum sea ice extent was the sixth smallest. The Northern Sea Route, which runs along the northern coast of Russia, opened later than recent years’ average due to persistent ice in the southwest Chukchi Sea.
The Northwest Passage’s southern route through northwestern Canada opened again this year and, quite unusually considering past climatology, its northern route was also almost entirely ice-free at the end of September.
In Antarctica, following record lows in 2023, net sea ice extent was larger than last year but continued to be well below average during much of 2024. The Antarctic daily minimum and maximum sea ice extents for the year were each the second lowest on record behind 2023, marking a continuation of low and record-low sea ice extent since 2016.
Significant weather events impacted Antarctica in 2024. A major warming event in the stratosphere in July and another at the surface in August led to numerous high-pressure and temperature records. Reanalysis estimates indicated that temperatures were 6°C–10°C above average across much of the interior during this two-month period, consistent with available but sparse observations. In terms of area, the Antarctic ozone hole was the seventh smallest in the 32-year record, appearing later than average and reaching its peak of 22.4 million square kilometers on 28 September.
Also within the cryosphere, the annual average snow cover extent was the smallest in the 55-year record for North America, and third smallest for the Northern Hemisphere overall. Glaciers lost a record amount of their mass in 2024; all 58 reference glaciers across the globe reported loss, marking only the second year—along with 2023—that this has occurred since the start of the record in 1970.
In Colombia, the Conejeres Glacier was declared extinct, joining a growing number of glaciers on this list. In Venezuela, all glaciers have now officially disappeared.
Across the global oceans, record-breaking temperatures in 2023 persisted into 2024, with daily mean sea surface temperatures at record-high levels until late June. The annual sea surface temperature was the highest in the 171-year record, marking the second year in a row that the global ocean set such a record. Approximately 91% of the ocean surface experienced at least one marine heatwave in 2024, while only 26% experienced at least one cold spell.
The surface-to-2000-m depth global ocean heat content was also a record high in 2024. Global mean sea level reached 105.8 mm above the average for 1993—when satellite measurements began—marking a new record high for the 13th consecutive year, with an increase of 4.6±1.4 mm over 2023.
A total of 82 named tropical cyclones were observed during the Northern and Southern Hemispheres’ storm seasons, below the 1991–2020 average of 87 and equal to the number recorded in 2023. Hurricane Helene brought destruction from Florida far inland to the southern Appalachian Mountains. Helene caused devastating record flooding that contributed to over 200 deaths, the most in the United States since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Hurricane Milton impacted Florida’s Gulf Coast just 12 days after Helene affected the region, marking the shortest time between major hurricane landfalls in Florida. In the northwest Pacific basin, Super Typhoon Yagi became one of the most destructive storms to affect China and Vietnam in recent years, causing more than 800 fatalities.
The record-warm temperatures in 2024 created conditions that helped intensify the hydrological cycle. The annual global mean precipitation total for 2024 was the third highest since 1983; precipitation over land areas was near-normal while it was fourth highest over the oceans. This is likely associated with warm sea surface temperatures that enhanced regional evaporation. One-day maximum totals measured across the globe were also record high, indicating an increase in rainfall intensity.
Exceptionally heavy rainfall in early January caused the Congo River in Africa to rise to 6.26 m, marking its highest level since 1961. In April, Dubai in the southern Persian Gulf recorded 250 mm of rain in 24 hours—nearly three times its annual average. The torrential downpour submerged highways and paralyzed Dubai International Airport, where floodwaters halted operations for 48 hours.
In South America, widespread rainfall totals of 400 mm or more from late April to early May in the state of Rio Grande do Sul triggered the worst flooding event on record in Brazil.
Storm Boris brought record rainfall to eastern Central Europe in mid-September. The storm led to 24 fatalities and several billion dollars in damage; however, the death toll was significantly lower than in past major floods, highlighting the effectiveness of early warning systems and emergency management.
Record rainfall led to major flooding in Valencia, Spain, on 29 October, with 720 mm recorded in a 12-hour period. At least 223 people were killed, and the economic damage exceeded $14 billion U.S. dollars.
Global drought decreased in 2024, both in intensity and extent, compared to 2023. Even so, Canada experienced both its driest and hottest year on record, contributing to one of its worst national wildfire seasons on record.
Both Peru and Brazil reported their third driest year on record, with large swathes of the Amazon basin impacted by extreme drought conditions. By mid-October, the Rio Negro at Manaus, a major tributary of the Amazon River, recorded its lowest water levels since records began in 1902, surpassing the previous low in October 2023.
Northwest Africa also saw exceptionally dry conditions as did Greece, Romania, and Bulgaria in Europe. The El Niño teleconnection patterns contributed to widespread drought across many countries of southern Africa. The resulting food and water shortages affected over 25 million people.
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