The likelihood that Earth briefly hits key warming threshold grows bigger and closer, UN forecasts

ASSOCIATED PRESS • May 17, 2023

There’s a two-out-of-three chance that the world will temporarily hit a key warming limit within the next five years, the United Nations weather agency said Wednesday. But it likely would only be a fleeting and less worrisome flirtation with the internationally agreed-upon temperature threshold. Scientists expect a temporary burst of heat from El Nino – a naturally-occurring weather phenomenon – to supercharge human-caused warming from the burning of coal, oil, and gas to new heights. Temperatures are expected to then slip back down a bit.