Get ready for the warmest winter of your life

Judging by the icy conditions that took over Matroosberg in the Western Cape this week, one would expect a dark and cold winter ahead for South Africans. On the contrary, the SA Weather Service says that this looming winter will be warmer than usual.

Thanks to global warming and El Niño, climate around the world is out of whack and many people have been harshly affected by these extreme weather conditions. South Africans have definitely felt the wrath of Mother Nature with the current drought set to spill over into autumn and winter this year.

While news of a warmer winter will certainly be welcomed with open arms, what this means on a larger scale is definite cause for alarm. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) announced on Wednesday that global temperatures are continuing to climb to fresh records. They added that the rise in greenhouse gas emissions was the primary cause and needs to be curbed urgently.

The world is currently experiencing the hottest year according to The United Nations weather agency’s early bird report of 2015. The report comes the week before world leaders assemble in Paris to try to negotiate an agreement to fight climate change.

This year has already surpassed last year’s temperatures so forget about the weather cooling down (normal winter temperature).

This week’s weather has already proven that. While conditions remained dry and hot across the Highveld and Lowveld, there was a cold front in the south-west coast, between Langebaan and Cape Agulhas.

Although South African climate differs from region to region, these extremes are indicative of a global problem.  According to WMO, abnormal warmth this year is particularly evident in the world’s oceans, such as the equatorial Pacific – where a monster El Niño event is under way – and the Indian Ocean.

Even our Southern Hemisphere counterpart Australia is headed for one of its 10 warmest years since the Bureau of Meteorology began collecting national weather records in 1910.

Severe heatwaves have also hit India and Pakistan, as well as Europe, North Africa and the Middle East in the past year.

The WMO says the past five-year period has seen numerous extreme weather events that were influenced by climate change and that have shifted the world to uncharted territories.

That alone should make us want to lower our greenhouse gas emissions immediately. This calls for a revisit of Michael Jackson’s Earth Song.