Another climate record: Extreme heat, hurricanes, droughts ravage Latin America and Caribbean

Last month saw another extreme weather milestone with the world’s hottest day on recent record registered on 22 July – yet another indication of the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions from human activities are changing our climate, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported on Wednesday. 

As 2020 draws to a close, it leaves in its wake the warmest decade on record and one of the three hottest years ever measured, according to the UN weather agency.  

From the Amazon to the Andes and the snowy depths of Patagonia, extreme weather and climate change are causing mega-drought, extreme rainfall, deforestation and glacier melt across the Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region, according to a UN report published on Friday.