Next year is set to be the hottest on record, according to a new global forecast issued by the UK Met Office.
Global warming and the peaking of the El Niño weather phenomenon – from unusually warm waters in the tropical Pacific Ocean – are cited as the reasons for next year’s hot conditions.
Weather experts have said temperatures in 2016 could be 1.1C above pre-industrial levels.
The forecast will be a cause for concern for world leaders who met in Paris five days ago to sign a historic climate change deal – pledging to limit global warming to 1.5C.
Professor Chris Folland, a research fellow at the Met Office, said: “2015 is on track to be the warmest year on record, and this forecast suggests 2016 is likely to be at least as warm, if not warmer.”
Professor Adam Scaife, head of long-range prediction at the Met Office, said: “This forecast suggests that by the end of 2016 we will have seen three record, or near-record years in a row for global temperatures.”
