After Earth's hottest week on record, extreme weather surprises everyone — even climate scientists
CBC
The heat has been unprecedented, as extreme weather from wildfires to floods ravage various corners of the world.
Data suggests last week was the hottest on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Temperatures have soared across much of southern Europe and the southern United States, while powerful rain storms led to flooding in Vermont, India, Japan — and Montreal on Thursday.
At the same time, Canada has already surpassed the record for the total area burned in a wildfire season.
This follows the hottest June on record, with unprecedented sea surface temperatures and record low Antarctic sea ice coverage.
"There's a lot of concern from the scientific community and a lot of catch up in the scientific community trying to understand these incredible changes we're seeing at the moment," said Michael Sparrow, head of the WMO's world climate research program.
All this comes at the onset of El Niño, which is expected to further fuel the heat both on land and in the oceans, according to Prof. Christopher Hewitt, WMO's director of climate services.
"We are in uncharted territory and we can expect more records to fall as El Niño develops further," he said. "These impacts will extend into 2024."
Global sea surface temperatures hit new records for the time of the year both in May and June, according to the WMO.
In Florida, for instance, the water temperature near Johnson Key was 36 Celsius, about 5 degrees warmer than normal this time of year, meteorologists said.
"As we go forward, we will see more extreme weather," said Altaf Arain, a professor in the school of earth, environment and society at McMaster University and director of McMaster's Centre for Climate Change.
While Arain isn't entirely surprised by the surging temperatures, he said the idea of a "new normal" should be thrown out the window.
"It may not be fair to use that term because when you talk about the new normal, then you have to look at the time scale," he said.
