Japan experienced warmest spring on record: Weather agency

Japan experienced its warmest spring on record this year, the national weather agency said Thursday, as greenhouse gasses and El Nino combine to send temperatures soaring worldwide.

Temperatures in March, April and May were 1.59 degrees Celsius (34.9 Fahrenheit) higher than the average for the same three-month period over the past 30 years, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

That marks the biggest gap since the agency started taking comparable measurements in 1898.

"As global warming progresses, such record high temperatures are becoming more common," it said.

Average sea-surface temperatures for waters around Japan in the same spring months were tied for the third-highest recorded since 1982, the agency said.

The United Nations said last month it was near-certain that 2023-2027 will be the warmest five-year period ever recorded.

This is partly due to a growing likelihood that the weather phenomenon El Nino will develop in coming months, fuelling higher global temperatures and possibly new heat records.

El Nino, a naturally occurring climate pattern typically associated with increased heat worldwide, as well as drought in some parts of the world and heavy rains elsewhere, last occurred in 2018-19.

There is also a two-thirds chance that at least one of the next five years will see global temperatures exceed the more ambitious target set out in the Paris accords on limiting climate change, according to the UN's World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

The 2015 Paris Agreement saw countries agree to cap global warming at "well below" two degrees Celsius above average levels measured between 1850 and 1900 -- and 1.5C if possible.

The global mean temperature in 2022 was 1.15C above the 1850-1900 average.

On Monday, Shanghai recorded its hottest May day in more than 100 years, shattering the previous high by a full degree.

• World
• Asia