Asia Warming Twice as Fast as Global Average, Warns UN Weather Report

SRINAGAR: Asia is heating up at twice the pace of the global average, a disturbing climate development that led to a string of record-breaking monthly temperature highs across 2024, according to a stark new report by the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO), released earlier this week.

Citing China as an emblematic example, the WMO report highlighted that monthly temperature records were shattered in April, May, August, September and November of last year. The trend was not limited to China alone—countries across Asia faced the brunt of accelerating climate chaos, with the continent’s massive landmass absorbing heat more rapidly than oceans.

“Extreme weather is already exacting an unacceptably high toll,” said Celeste Saulo, Secretary-General of WMO, as the report pointed to increasingly severe heatwaves, erratic rainfall patterns, melting glaciers, and rising sea levels from the Indian subcontinent to Central Asia and the Pacific rim.

The report, based on extensive data collected across the region, explained that temperature over land increases faster than over water, placing Asia’s huge continental mass at greater risk. Surface temperatures in both the Indian and Pacific Oceans also touched record highs in 2024, contributing to marine heatwaves and biodiversity disruption.

From glacier melt in Kazakhstan to a summer-long drought in China that affected over 4.76 million people and ravaged agricultural land, the spectrum of disaster was vast. At the other extreme, record rainfall and landslides in northern Kerala, India, claimed over 350 lives, while Kazakhstan suffered its worst flooding in 70 years.

The WMO warned that both too much water and too little—sometimes within the same year—will define Asia’s climate future unless early warning and mitigation systems are rapidly scaled up.

A rare note of optimism in the WMO report came from Nepal, which was highlighted as a model for disaster preparedness. Despite devastating landslides and flash floods between September 26 and 28, 2024, which killed 246 people and left over 200 missing, the country’s early flood warning system is believed to have saved thousands of lives.

“This is the first time in 65 years that the flooding was this bad. We had zero casualties in our area thanks to preparedness and rescue measures, but the damage was extensive,” said Ramesh Karki, Mayor of Barahakshetra municipality in eastern Nepal.

WMO officials noted that Nepal’s national protocols on emergency funding had ensured timely relief distribution, adding that the organisation continues to collaborate with Nepal’s National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to enhance their forecasting and response capabilities.

The report concludes that early warning systems, local capacity building, and robust climate adaptation strategies are urgently needed across Asia to manage the rising tide of weather-related disasters.

“The work of national meteorological and hydrological services and their partners is more important than ever to save lives and livelihoods,” WMO Secretary-General Saulo stressed.

The report underscores a grim reality: while temperature records may be made to be broken at events like the Olympics, the climate records being shattered across Asia are signs of crisis, not celebration.