Romania’s National Meteorological Administration said 2020 was one of the hottest years ever at the end of the warmest decade on record.
The average global temperature this year was 1.2C higher than the pre-industrial period of 1850-1900, while temperatures are set to rise around the globe as it goes into the next decade.
The Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update, led by the United Kingdom’s Met Office, which provides a climate outlook for the next five years, said temperatures could rise 1.5 C higher in the next five years.
”As 2020 comes to a close, ending the hottest decade on record (2011-2020), according to the World Meteorological Organization, 2020 is one of the three hottest years, almost as hot as 2016, the hottest year so far. The hottest six years were between 2015-2020,” Romania’s Meteorological Association said.
It said temperatures were higher due to the influence of La Niña, which results in warmer winter temperatures than normal,” the association said on Facebook.
Detailed information about temperatures in the past decade will be published in the “State of the Climate in 2020,” in March 2021 which will also contain information about the impact of global warming.
According to preliminary data about the climate, the first 10 months of 2020 made it the second hottest year after 2016.
The monthly ”European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service”, “United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration”, “NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies” and “Japan Meteorological Agency” said temperatures were high in November, the second warmest November on record.
”The difference in the three hottest years is small… and less important compared to the long-term trend,” the National Meteorological Administration said. “Starting from the 1980s, each decade was hotter than the previous one. This tendency is expected to continue due to the record levels of greenhouse gases which trap heat in the atmosphere and warm the planet. Carbon dioxide in particular acts like a heat-trapping blanket, warming our planet.”
