Asia Warming at Twice the Global Average: WMO Report

Asia is warming faster than the rest of the world, according to a new report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report, released Monday, shows the continent is heating up at twice the global average rate, leading to devastating impacts for ecosystems, societies and economies across the region.

“The State of the Climate in Asia report highlights the changes in key climate indicators such as surface temperature, glacier mass and sea level,” said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo in a press release from WMO.

Last year, sea surface temperatures in the region were the highest ever recorded, with the sea surface decadal warming rate almost double the global average. A record amount of the ocean was also impacted by heatwaves.

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On the Indian and Pacific Ocean sides, Asia’s sea level rise exceeded the global average, with low-lying coastal areas facing heightened risks.

The rising temperatures are also impacting snowpack and glaciers, with cascading effects.

“Reduced winter snowfall and extreme summer heat were punishing for glaciers.  In the central Himalayas and Tian Shan. 23 out of 24 glaciers suffered mass loss, leading to an increase in hazards like glacial lake outburst floods and landslides and long-term risks for water security,” WMO said.

Extreme rainfall brought devastation to many countries in Asia, with tropical cyclones leaving a trail of destruction. On the other extreme, drought brought heavy agricultural and economic losses.

The average temperature on the continent in 2024 was roughly 1.04 degrees Celsius above the average from 1991 to 2020, making it either the hottest or second-hottest year ever recorded, depending on the dataset.

“Asia is the continent with the largest land mass extending to the Arctic and is warming more than twice as fast as the global average because the temperature increase over land is larger than the temperature increase over the ocean,” WMO explained.

Average sea surface temperatures have been climbing 0.24 degrees Celsius each decade — double the world’s average rate of 0.13 degrees Celsius.

“In 2024, most of the ocean area of Asia was affected by marine heatwaves of strong, severe, or extreme intensity – the largest extent since records began in 1993,” WMO said. “During August and September 2024, nearly 15 million square kilometers of the region’s ocean was impacted – one tenth of the Earth’s entire ocean surface, about the same size as the Russian Federation and more than 1.5 times the area of China.”

Last year, large areas of the Arctic Ocean saw significant sea ice melt. By season’s end, the edge of the ice sheet had shifted far northward.

“The High-Mountain Asia (HMA) region, centred on the Tibetan Plateau, contains the largest volume of ice outside the polar regions, with glaciers covering an area of approximately 100 000 square km. It is known as the world’s Third Pole,” according to WMO.

Most of the region’s glaciers have been retreating over the past several decades.

In the High-Mountain Asia region, 23 of 24 glaciers showed a continued loss of ice mass during the 2023 to 2024 season.

In the eastern Tian Shan region, Urumqi Glacier No. 1 recorded its most negative balance of ice mass since records began in 1959.

In Central Asia — primarily in Kazakhstan and southern Russia — record rainfall and severe snow melt caused the worst flooding in 70 or more years, forcing 118,000 people to evacuate. Following extreme rainfall on July 30, enormous landslides in India’s northern Kerala region led to the deaths of 350 people.

Record rainfall in Nepal in late September triggered severe floods that killed at least 246 people.

By contrast, nearly 4.8 million people were affected by drought in China, which damaged 828,297 acres of crops and caused estimated direct losses of over $400 million.

“Extreme weather is already exacting an unacceptably high toll,” Saulo said. “The work of National Meteorological and Hydrological Services and their partners is more important than ever to save lives and livelihoods.”