theguardian.com
La Niña's Potential Return Amidst Record Global Temperatures
Despite a 55% chance of La Niña returning between September and November 2025, the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO) predicts above-average global temperatures will persist, continuing a trend of record-breaking heat.
- What is the immediate impact of the predicted La Niña on global temperatures?
- Even with a 55-60% chance of La Niña's return between September and December 2025, global temperatures are expected to remain above average. This continues the trend of the past 10 years being the hottest on record, and 2024 being the hottest year ever recorded.
- How does the potential return of La Niña contrast with the overall global temperature trend, and what is the reason for this?
- La Niña typically cools surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific, but its cooling effect is insufficient to offset the warming caused by human-induced climate change. The past 10 years have been the hottest on record, demonstrating the dominance of anthropogenic warming over natural climate fluctuations.
- What are the long-term implications of these concurrent events (La Niña's potential return and sustained high global temperatures)?
- The continued occurrence of record-breaking temperatures despite La Niña's potential return underscores the accelerating impact of human-induced climate change. This suggests that future extreme weather events will be more frequent and intense, regardless of naturally occurring climate oscillations.
Cognitive Concepts
Bias by Omission
While the article provides a comprehensive overview of La Niña and its potential return, it could benefit from expanding on the specific regional impacts of La Niña and how these might interact with the broader effects of climate change. This omission is likely due to space constraints and the focus on the global temperature outlook.
Sustainable Development Goals
The article directly addresses climate change by discussing the La Niña phenomenon and its impact on global temperatures. While La Niña has a cooling effect, it is insufficient to counteract the warming trend caused by human-induced climate change. The persistence of record high temperatures despite La Niña highlights the severity of the climate crisis and the urgent need for climate action. The WMO explicitly states that naturally occurring events like La Niña are occurring against the backdrop of human-induced climate change, exacerbating extreme weather and impacting rainfall and temperature patterns. This underscores the critical need for mitigating climate change to prevent further extreme weather events and temperature increases.