(NOAA/NASA via AFP)MARRAKECH, MOROCCO - The year 2016 will "very likely" be the hottest on record, the UN said Monday, warning of calamitous consequences if the march of global warming cannot be halted. The high temperatures we saw in 2015 are set to be beaten in 2016," WMO secretary general Petteri Taalas said in a statement. In parts of Arctic Russia, temperatures were 6° C to 7° C higher than the long-term average, the statement said. Both analyses warned that concentrations of planet-warming greenhouse gases in the atmosphere continued to rise, reaching 400 parts per million in 2015 and likely to exceed that record in 2016. Global temperatures for January to September this year were about 1.2° C over pre-industrial levels, and 0.88° C over the average for 1961-90, said the WMO.

Source: Bangkok Post November 14, 2016 11:53 UTC