Brace for years of extreme heat, UN climate report warns
Arctic warming is also predicted to rise at more than three times the global average.
"Every additional fraction of a degree of warming drives more harmful heatwaves, extreme rainfall events, intense droughts, melting of ice sheets, sea ice, and glaciers, heating of the ocean, and rising sea levels," the WMO said in a statement.
Climate report by the numbers
80% chance that at least one of the next five years will exceed 2024 as the warmest on record
86% chance that at least one of next five years will be more than 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F) above the 1850-1900 average
70% chance that 5-year average warming for 2025-2029 will be more than 1.5 degrees C (2.7 degrees F).
Arctic warming predicted to continue to outstrip global average
More people at risk
Last year, the hottest year on record, saw the first breach of the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which committed countries to avoid global warming of more than 1.5 degrees C.
From this year until the end of 2029, the mean near-surface temperature globally is forecast to be between 1.2 degrees C and 1.9 degrees C (2.2 degrees F and 3.4 degrees F) higher than pre-industrial levels of the years 1850-1900, the WMO said, adding that this would fuel more extreme weather.
"With the next five years forecast to be more than 1.5 degrees C warmer than preindustrial levels on average, this will put more people than ever at risk of severe heat waves, bringing more deaths and severe health impacts unless people can be better protected from the effects of heat," Richard Betts, head of climate impacts research at the UK Met Office and a professor at the University of Exeter, told the Associated Press. "Also we can expect more severe wildfires as the hotter atmosphere dries out the landscape."
Arctic warmth is soaring
In the Arctic, the above-average projected warming will accelerate ice melt in the Arctic and northwest Pacific Ocean.
The report said Arctic warming was predicted to be more than three-and-a-half times the global average, at 2.4 degrees C (4.3 degrees F) above the recent average temperature over the next five winters.
Contributing: Reuters
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