Briefly

SWITZERLAND

2019 confirmed as second-hottest year

Last year was the second-hottest year on record after 2016, just as the past five years are the top five hottest and the past 10 years also the top 10, the World Meteorological Organization, or WMO, said on Wednesday, expecting more extreme weather throughout 2020 and the coming decades. The latest WMO data show that average temperatures for the five-year (2015-19) and 10-year (2010-19) periods were the highest on record. Since the 1980s, each decade has been warmer than the previous one, and the trend is expected to continue because of record levels of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. The year 2016 remains the hottest year on record, because of the combination of a very strong El Nino event, which has a warming impact, and long-term climate change.