World experienced warmest land and ocean temperatures in August, says US weather agency
Global land and ocean temperatures were the warmest on record in August 2024. Land temperatures were the warmest on record, while sea temperature was the second-warmest, US weather agency National Atmospheric and Ocean Administration (NOAA) said on Thursday.
In the monthly climate update, Ahira Sanchez-Lugo Climatologist, NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and Scott Handel Meteorologist, NOAA Climate Prediction Center (CPC), said the global land and ocean temperatures were the warmest on record during the January-August period of 2024.
During June-August 2024 (Boreal summer), the land and ocean temperatures were also the warmest on record as also the land temperature. The ocean temperature was, again, the second warmest.
Concern for agri market
For the global agricultural market, the update raised concern as the US went through its third-lowest precipitation on record in August. NOAA experts say that around 36 per cent of the Continental US is in “some type of drought”. This is about 12 percentage points more than in July.
NOAA reiterated the Climate Prediction Centre’s forecast that there is a 71 per cent chance for La Nina to emerge by the September-November period.
“La Niña is expected to persist through January-March 2025. However, a strong event is unlikely. Neutral conditions are favoured by the Spring,” it noted.
‘La Nina watch’
In a related development, the APEC Climate Centre has predicted that India will receive above-normal rainfall during October 2024 and March 2025 even as it has suggested a “La Nina Watch”.
“The APCC ENSO (El Nino-Southern Oscillation) Alert suggests La Niña Watch. Niño3.4 index is expected to be -1℃ for November 2024 and gradually increase to -0.4℃ for March 2025. La Niña conditions are most probable for the whole forecast period,” it said in its latest seasonal outlook.
The APCC, established by the endorsement of 21 APEC members in 2005 as a worldwide climate prediction institute, forecasts a strongly enhanced probability for above-normal temperatures for most of the globe except for the eastern tropical and subtropical Pacific and the central equatorial Pacific during October 2024 — March 2025.
Besides, India, Greenland, northern Canada, Alaska and Australia will receive above-normal precipitation. There is also an enhanced probability for above-normal rainfall for the Arctic, central Russia, the region spanning the South China Sea to the northern North Pacific, the western off-equatorial North Pacific, and the Caribbean Sea, the APCC said.
The centre has also predicted a strongly enhanced probability for above-normal temperatures in the Arctic, Pacific (excluding the equatorial region and the tropical and subtropical eastern Pacific), the Indian Ocean (excluding the southern region), South-East Asia (excluding the Indochinese Peninsula), central Africa, the North Atlantic, Mexico, the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea and Central America.