WMO Statement on the Status of the Global Climate in 2013

This analytical report confirms that 2013 tied with 2007 as the sixth warmest on record, continuing the long-term global warming trend, and highlights that 13 of the 14 warmest years on record have all occurred in the 21st century. The document also provides short synopses of the status of the climate in different regions, and describes the impacts of continuing and increasing global warming on the regions, including increased incidences of extreme weather events, as well as the loss of lives and livelihoods caused by these events. The statement includes a list and description of major weather and climate events around the world in 2013, such as Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) which devastated parts of the Philippines, and the severe floods in the Alps and various European countries. It also contains a case study into the record hot Australian summer of 2012/13 and record hot calendar year of 2013, concluding that the record hot summer “was about five times as likely as a result of human-induced influence on cliimate” and that the record hot calendar “would have been virtually impossible without human contributions of heat-trapping gases.”