The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) – a specialized agency of the United Nations, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland – announced on March 23, 2012 that the decade 2001-2010 was the warmest decade since records began in 1850. According to this agency, global land and sea surface temperatures are now estimated at 0.46 degrees Celsius above the long-term average of 14.0 degrees Celsius (57.2 degrees Fahrenheit). The WMO also said this past 10-year period was marked by extreme levels of rain or snowfall, leading to significant flooding on all continents, while droughts affected parts of East Africa and North America.
The WMO noted that nine of the past 10 years counted among the 10 warmest on record.
The UN weather agency noted that during the past decade, “numerous weather and climate extremes affected almost every part of the globe with flooding, droughts, cyclones, heat waves and cold waves.”
The WMO is an intergovernmental organization with a membership of 189 member states and territories. It evolved from the International Meteorological Organization (IMO), which was founded in 1873. It became the specialized agency of the United Nations in 1950, with a focus on meteorology (weather and climate.
Bottom line: The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) said on March 23, 2012 that the decade 2001-2010 was the warmest since records began in 1850. According to this agency, this past 10-year period was marked by extreme levels of rain or snowfall, leading to significant flooding on all continents, while droughts affected parts of East Africa and North America.