Shanghai, China’s financial hub, has experienced its hottest day in a century, according to the city’s meteorological service, with the temperature exceeding the previous high record by a full degree.
The weather service’s official Weibo account reported that the temperature at the Xujiahui station surged to 36.1 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit), setting a new record for the warmest day in May in a century.
Scientific research indicates that global warming is exacerbating extreme weather conditions. A recent report from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (UNIPCC) warns that global warming intensifies the severity and concurrency of multiple climatic hazards.
The city’s central metro station witnessed an even higher afternoon temperature of 36.7 degrees Celsius, a degree above the record of 35.7 degrees Celsius. This record was set four times – in 1876, 1903, 1915, and 2018.
In a recent warning, the United Nations stated that 2023-2027 will most likely be the warmest five-year period ever recorded due to the combined impact of greenhouse gases and El Nino.
According to the UN’s World Meteorological Organization (WMO), there is a two-thirds chance that at least one of the coming five years will witness global temperatures surpassing the ambitious target established in the Paris Accords for climate change limitation.
In May, scientists issued a grim forecast, predicting that the world might exceed the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature threshold as early as 2027 due to rising carbon emissions caused by human activities.
Exceeding the 1.5-degree limit would mean that the world would be warmer than in the pre-industrial era of the late 19th century when there were no fossil fuel emissions. Limiting global warming to 1.5C has been a key focus of international climate negotiations. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, countries committed to reducing emissions to prevent temperature increases.
Scientists warn that if global temperatures rise by 1.5C for an entire decade, the world could face harsher heatwaves, more extreme weather events, and more intense wildfires.
