Weather presenters on TV and radio regularly inform us about the temperatures and other weather conditions that we feel on our skin and plan our day around. Because they know how to explain weather and climate in a useful and interesting way, WMO encourages weather presenters to also reflect climate change science in their reports.
For (Northern Hemisphere) summer 2017, WMO partnered with Climate Central to invite presenters from a dozen countries to explore how climate change may affect summer heat in major cities by the end of the 21st century. They started by comparing the summer highs projected by 2100 for their city with cities that already experience those temperatures today. In addition to these videos, Climate Central has posted an interactive map to make it easier to visualize these “shifting cities.”
In 2014 and 2015, WMO invited some 60 weather presenters to imagine a “weather report from the year 2050.” Four series of reports were launched to promote the Paris climate change conference (COP 21), the Third World Conference on Disaster risk Reduction held in Sendai, the Lima climate change conference (COP 20) and the UN Climate Summit in New York.
None of the worst-case futures presented in these video reports need to happen. What the weather presenters have created are only possible scenarios, and not true forecasts. Nevertheless, they are based on the most up-to-date climate science, and they paint a compelling picture of what life could be like on a warmer planet.
Watch the “summer in the city” climate reports here.
