NPR

Greenhouse gases reach a new record as nations fall behind on climate pledges : NPR

GENEVA — The three main greenhouse gases hit record high levels in the atmosphere last year, the U.N. weather agency said Wednesday, calling it an "ominous" sign as war in Ukraine, rising costs of food and fuel, and other worries have elbowed in on longtime concerns about global warming in recent months.

"More bad news for the planet," the World Meteorological Organization said in a statement along with its latest annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin. It's one of several reports released in recent days looking at several aspects of humanity's struggle with climate change in the run up to the U.N.'s latest climate conference, in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt. The U.S. pledged billions to fight climate change. Then came the Ukraine war Goats and Soda The U.S. pledged billions to fight climate change. Then came the Ukraine war

Of the three main types of heat-trapping greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide — the biggest jump from 2020 to 2021 was in methane, whose concentrations in the air came in with the biggest year-on-year increase since regular measurements began four decades ago, WMO said.

"The continuing rise in concentrations of the main heat-trapping gases, including the record acceleration in methane levels, shows that we are heading in the wrong direction," said WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.

Methane is more potent at trapping heat than carbon dioxide, but doesn't stay in the atmosphere nearly as long as carbon dioxide and there's 200 times more carbon dioxide in the air than methane. Over a 20-year time-period, a molecule of methane traps about 81 times the heat as a molecule of carbon dioxide but over a century it goes down to trapping 28 times more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

One Year Ago During the Week of October 26

Last year …

On Wednesday 10/27/21 we had partly sunny 🌞 and rain showers 🌦 with high of 56 and a low of 40, which is a degree below normal.

On Thursday 10/28/21 we had partly sunny 🌞 and shallow fog 🌞 with high of 56 and a low of 37, which is a degree below normal.

On Friday 10/29/21 we had showers 🌦 and mostly sunny 🌞 with high of 58 and a low of 34, which is two degrees above normal.

On Saturday 10/30/21 we had rain showers 🌦 and mostly cloudy πŸŒ₯ with high of 61 and a low of 44, which is five degrees above normal.

On Sunday 10/31/21 we had rain showers 🌦 and mostly cloudy πŸŒ₯ with high of 62 and a low of 49, which is six degrees above normal.

On Monday 11/01/21 we had partly cloudy 🌀 with high of 57 and a low of 37, which is two degrees above normal.

On Tuesday 11/02/21 we had partly cloudy 🌀 with high of 54 and a low of 32, which is a degree below normal.