UN: Extreme weather events in 2013 point to climate change
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Geneva - Extreme heat, storms and floods that hit several parts of the world last year all point to the mounting effects of global warming, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Monday.
Australia experienced the hottest year on record in 2013, and this was clearly linked to human influences, the UN agency said in its annual climate report.
This record "would have been virtually impossible without human contributions of heat-trapping gases, illustrating that some extreme events are becoming much more likely due to climate change," scientists at the University of Melbourne said in a study that was part of the WMO report.
Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines demonstrated that coastal floods are becoming more severe as the sea level rises, the WMO said.
The global average temperature was 14.5 degrees, making 2013 the sixth-hottest year since records were started in 1850.
DPA
