Even ongoing La Nina conditions couldn’t cool the weather down in several parts of the world last month
May 2022 has tied with its counterparts from 2018 and 2021 to be the fifth-warmest May on record, according to the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) of the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts.
The month was 0.26 degree Celsius warmer than the 1991-2020 average despite an ongoing La Nina phenomenon in the equatorial Pacific Ocean. La Ninas generally have a cooling effect on global temperatures.
C3S collects and analyses data from satellites, ships, aircrafts and weather stations around the world.
The heat was mostly concentrated in some regions, one of them being south-west Europe with extensive and record-breaking heat waves. Daily maximum temperature anomalies were the highest for south-west Europe since the 1980s, according to C3S data.
Many national and local records were broken:
The high temperatures in south-west Europe were unusual as they came amid spring. Summer for the region is in July and August. But desert winds from afar western Sahara desert induced heat waves.
A band of area extending from western Siberia across central Asia into northern India and Pakistan also experienced above average temperatures. There were heat waves in India and Pakistan which had started early this year in March, which is usually spring season for the region.
The region has higher than normal temperatures from March to May. The heat waves in May had occurred due to the desert winds flowing in from the Arabian Peninsula which are usual for this time of the year for the region, though the heat waves have been more intense than the usual.
Other regions with above average temperatures were the Horn of Africa, southern United States, Mexico and Antarctica. The ocean close to the Antarctic coast was also warmer than normal.
The high temperatures in Antarctica which was mostly in the Ross Ice Shelf lead to melting of the ice sheets. The sea ice extent in the continent was at its sixth lowest on record in May, according to C3S.
More than 40 per cent of the United States is under drought conditions, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. This is mainly due to heat, less rainfall driven by the La Nina phenomenon in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, which is in its record third year. La Nina brings less than normal rainfall for the region.
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