Six charts help to explain 2024’s freakish temperatures

CLIMATE SCIENTISTS say they are running out of adjectives to describe recent weather anomalies. Last year was the hottest on record: the World Meteorological Organisation said that temperatures were roughly 1.45°C above pre-industrial levels. Samantha Burgess, the deputy director of the EU’s climate agency, said that the second half of 2023 had “truly been shocking”. 

This year could be hotter still. The six charts below visualise the latest anomalies and project where things could go next.

In June 2023 the world entered an “El Niño” phase. This natural climate cycle (part of a pattern known as El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO) can temporarily boost temperatures and cause extreme weather anomalies. But even by El Niño standards, the speed at which air temperatures rose in 2023 alarmed climate scientists.