2023 Climate Report: A Heatwave of Hysteria
Well, would you look at that? The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has just dropped a report so worrying it could make a Kardashian’s breakup seem mundane. It’s like Mother Nature decided to crank the thermostat up to 11 and throw in a cocktail of droughts, floods, and riverbed karaoke nights. Seriously, where’s the “Turn Down for What” button when you need it?
Never Seen Before
According to the WMO, 2023 was hotter than a jalapeño in a sauna, clocking in 1.45°C warmer than pre-industrial levels. And just when you thought 2022 was something to talk about… surprise! Looks like we’ve jumped straight from La Niña to El Niño, making it more chaotic than a toddler after a sugar rush. We’re talking rainfall deficits that would make a camel’s back look like it’s overflowing, and flooding that’s more dramatic than a soap opera twist.
Dry Basins and Torrential Rains
The heat’s not just a minor footnote; no, it’s causing rivers to droop like a sad puppy: “Oh, Mississippi, where did all your water go?!” The Amazon is down to a trickle, and at this rate, even indoor plumbing might need to start rationing. Meanwhile, the east coast of Africa is throwing a party with rivers overflowing more than an overzealous soda fountain.
In places where you’d expect a drought, like the Horn of Africa, they’re experiencing flooding that could sweep away more than just your regular picnic – think full-blown ‘Noah’s Ark’ levels. More than 12,600 people have been affected, with Libya clocking in over 11,000 fatalities. You can almost hear the rivers laughing, “Ha, you think you’ve got water woes? Hold my beer!”
Divergences and Inadequacies
Now, while modeling results are saying one thing, the reality seems to be playing its own game of hide and seek. The WMO claims that 73% of basins showed concordance between observed and simulated anomalies. But in places like South Africa and the Upper Amazon basin, it’s more like “Surprise! I’m your uninvited climate change friend!”
One expert even stated, “While models are capable of providing a consistent and reliable picture of flow conditions, model validation is not sufficient.” In other words, without a systematic observation system, we’re essentially blindfolded while trying to drive through a monsoon. Doesn’t sound fun, does it? It’s like trying to navigate a maze constructed by a particularly evil game designer.
A Climate Comedy Routine?
With extreme heat, drought, and floods spreading across the globe, you can’t help but ask: Are we in the middle of a real-life sitcom? The punchline? “Now serving disasters, all year round!” At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if meteorologists started wearing clown shoes while reporting – it just seems to fit the absurdity of it all. Climate change is no laughing matter, though, and while we might joke about the extremes, it’s time we all realized that this comedy of errors has serious consequences.
So let’s put our thinking caps on – consider how we can combat this climatic chaos. We passed the point of just shaking our heads at sad news reports. It’s all hands-on deck, folks! And remember, if you see a river, don’t be surprised if it decides to turn into a raging beast overnight. Mother Nature’s rehearsing her lines in dramatic fluctuations. Can we please send her a script for consistency? Now that would bring a little more stability to our lives!
So there you have it, folks – the WMO report in a nutshell. Let’s hope we give Mother Nature a reason to calm down before she knocks down a few more bridges. Climatology isn’t just for scientists, it’s our common ground, and it’s high time we deal with this hot mess!
“Unprecedented heat, severe droughts and reduced river flows, flow conditions generally drier than normal, significant rainfall deficits, severe flooding, etc..” These are the key climatic facts of the year 2023, according to a latest report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).
Never seen before
According to this document, “the year 2023 was marked by unprecedented heat, becoming the hottest year on record with 1.45°C warmer than pre-industrial levels. The transition from La Niña to El Niño conditions, as well as the positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole (also known as Indian El Niño, IOD) contributed to this extreme heat and various weather impacts ranging from severe rains and floods to droughts.
In addition, said report adds that “the year 2023 was marked by river flow conditions that were generally drier than normal, even normal. As in 2022 and 2021, more than 50% of the world’s river basins experienced deviations from near-normal conditions, primarily below-normal flows, with a smaller number of basins experiencing conditions above and well above normal. normal.” While emphasizing that “vast territories of North, Central and South America suffered from severe drought and reduced river flows in 2023. The Mississippi and Amazon basins experienced historically low water levels.
“The east coast of Africa experienced flows above and well above normal. The Horn of Africa, which has experienced five consecutive dry rainy seasons, has been hit by floods.” In Asia and Oceania, the major river basins – the Ganges, Brahmaputra and Mekong – experienced below-normal conditions across almost their entire territory. New Zealand’s North Island and the Philippines experienced much higher than normal annual flows. In Northern Europe, the whole of the UK and Ireland experienced much higher than normal flow conditions, as did Finland and southern Sweden,” the report said. And add: “Inflows into reservoirs showed a trend similar to that of overall river flow. India, North America, Central and South America, as well as parts of Australia, experienced lower than normal flows. Basin-wide reservoir storage varied significantly, reflecting the influence of water management, with levels much higher than normal in basins such as the Amazon and Paraná, but also in other regions of the world, where river flow was much lower than normal in 2023.
Regarding groundwater levels, WMO experts observe that “in South Africa, the majority of wells showed higher than normal levels, following above-average rainfall in recent years; the same was true in India, Ireland, Australia and Israel. A notable decrease in groundwater availability has been observed in North America and Europe due to prolonged drought. In Chile and Jordan, groundwater levels were also below normal, with long-term declines due to over-abstraction rather than climatic factors.”
These same experts note that “soil moisture levels were mostly below normal or much below normal over large areas of the world, North America, South America, North Africa and the Middle East being the main regions concerned.
Dry basins and torrential rains
Regarding the situation in Africa, the report states that “this continent was hit by severe flooding in 2023. Libya, Mozambique, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and the Horn of Africa (which had suffered from five consecutive rainy seasons) all faced severe flooding, likely triggered by El Niño conditions. These floods caused a total of more than 12,600 victims, including more than 11,000 in Libya alone. The east coast of Africa, including the Limpopo and Zambezi river basins, experienced above and much above normal flows. South Africa’s reservoirs experienced higher than normal inflows as a result of above normal flow conditions. Soil moisture levels in sub-Saharan Africa were generally below normal, with the exception of South Africa, which experienced above normal soil moisture conditions.
“Evapotranspiration rates (ETR) in sub-Saharan Africa during the months of December-February and June-August were normal to below normal, except in West Africa and the coastal basins of South Africa. South. The Horn of Africa experienced higher than normal REE rates during the months of March-May and September-November, with intense rainfall and associated flooding in October,” the document said. He added: “Groundwater levels in much of North Africa, including Libya, were below normal, reflecting long-term declines likely due to excessive withdrawals rather than climatic factors. Sub-Saharan Africa and the Horn of Africa both experienced significantly above-normal SST in 2023, reflecting a significant and persistent increase in water storage since 2019, highlighting positive long-term trends. term in these regions.
Divergences and inadequacies
On another note, the WMO explains that “the validation of the modeled results for 2023 showed concordance in more than 73% of the basins between the observed and simulated anomalies, in particular with regard to precipitation, notably in central Europe and northern, in New Zealand, in Australia, in the upper reaches of the Paraná River in Brazil and Paraguay, in the Ganges in India and the Irrawaddy River in Myanmar. However, discrepancies between modeled and observed anomalies have been observed in South Africa, the upper Amazon basin, the Lule basin in Sweden, the Nelson and upper Mississippi basins in North America, and in the Niger River in Africa.
In this regard, WMO experts argue that “while models are capable of providing a consistent and reliable picture of flow conditions in many watersheds around the world, model validation is not sufficient” . And he added that “in general, there is still no systematic observation system for the global hydrological cycle, due to the lack of in situ measurements and/or data exchange.”
Hassan Bentaleb
