GLOBAL WARMING
Heat Waves are piling up in 2023
Underwater loss in Himalayan glaciers and an accelerated Greenland ice melt could exacerbate the situation even further
Let’s start off with how things have shaped up so far temperature-wise. Europe has recently experienced its second warmest winter on record. The average temperature from December to February was 1.4 degrees Celsius above the 1991–2020 average. The anomalous warmth resulted in Europe having its joint-second warmest winter on record for the 2021–2022 period, only surpassed by the winter of 2019–2020.
In late December & early January, parts of the continent were affected by a winter heatwave, resulting in several ski resorts closing temporarily due to abnormally mild temperatures that turned pisté to slush. In numerous countries, regional temperature records were broken. Switzerland, for instance, documented its highest-ever winter temperature north of the Alps — a balmy 19.4C. Northern Spain recorded almost 25 degrees of warmth.
Data revealed that temperatures were especially high in Eastern Europe and northern Scandinavia. And this wasn’t restricted to Europe alone. India has experienced its hottest February since 1901, and meteorologists are now anticipating a recurrence of the severe heat…