After the effects of the phenomenon known as El Niño caused droughts, sweltering weather and record temperatures around the world last summer, experts warn that we have not yet seen the worst and that 2024 will be a very hot year with an even hotter summer, due to the so-called “solar maximum“, a peak of the Sun’s activity that is expected to last until 2025.
Professor Levent Kurnaz, director of the Climate Research Centre at Istanbul’s Bosphorus University, said that our star heats up and cools down in successive 11-year cycles. Kurnaz explained that the Sun has been cooling for the past 15 years, but this has not caused temperatures to decrease largely due to climate change: “Scientists predicted that it would cool slightly for 30 years. Contrary to expectations, the Sun has warmed considerably in the last few months.
“The Sun has an 11-year cycle left, and will peak in 2025. There is also the possibility of a very strong El Niño next summer. This means that average temperatures will be higher than expected, and that the Sun will heat up more than expected,” the professor added. “In short, two warming phenomena will overlap next summer (the solar maximum and El Niño). If the El Niño effect continues, the summer of 2024 will be quite hot. And by 2025, above-normal temperatures are likely to continue,” Kurnaz said.
The climate expert warned that “while Istanbul normally experiences a maximum temperature of 35-36 degrees Celsius in summer, we will probably see temperatures of 37-38 degrees Celsius in Istanbul during the coming summer… Last summer, the highest temperature in Turkey’s history of 49.5 degrees was measured in the Sarıcakaya district of Eskişehir province. In 2024 we will probably break a new temperature record by exceeding 49.5 degrees,” the scientist concluded.
VOTE
EDITORIAL TEAM
🧿 About us
.
Edited and reviewed by:
Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
…
📣 Your ADVERTISING on Hispanatolia
.
🤗 HELP US WITH A DONATION:
💗 Paypal
