A new report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) finds that the Asian continent is warming twice as fast as the global average, highlighting the uneven impacts and consequences of global warming across the world.
Higher levels of warming are causing reductions in glacier mass, unprecedented sea-level rise, and prolonged heat waves over the region. Depending on the data set, the year 2024 was either the hottest or second hottest on record in Asia, with temperatures reaching 1.04°C above the 1991-2020 average, the State of the Climate in Asia report, released on June 23, says.
Faster warming over Asia is attributed to its massive landmass, “because temperature increase over land is larger than the temperature increase over the ocean,” the report says. The Asian continent has the largest landmass of all other continents on earth, at 44.58 million square kilometres. Even so, exceptionally high temperatures last year caused most of the ocean area in Asia — 15 million square kilometres — to experience marine heat waves.
Among the extreme weather events noted in the report is the 2024 Wayanad landslide in Kerala, which killed more than 220 people. The landslide was caused by excessive one-day rainfall, which was made 10% more intense due to climate change, according to a rapid analysis by World Weather Attribution.
“The State of the Climate in Asia report highlights the changes in key climate indicators such as surface temperature, glacier mass and sea level, which will have major repercussions for societies, economies and ecosystems in the region. Extreme weather is already exacting an unacceptably high toll,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo, in a press release. “The work of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and their partners is more important than ever to save lives and livelihoods,” she added.
The report comes amid steep budget cuts made by the Donald Trump administration in hydrometeorological services like the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The move could impact climate modelling and cross-border collaborations on predicting and modelling future climate impacts, scientists have said.
Early warning and anticipatory action, with the help of hydromet services, saved 1,30,000 lives during last year’s record-breaking flooding in Nepal, the WMO report notes.
Banner image: An ox-driven cart carries a block of ice during hot weather. Image by Kristina D.C. Hoepnner via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).
