EarthSky, November 2024
The Middle East and North Africa, which already include some of the hottest and driest spots on Earth, are undergoing accelerated climate change and will reach warming thresholds two to three decades earlier than the rest of the world. That’s according to a new study published on November 21, 2024, in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres. By 2100, parts of the Arabian Peninsula could experience up to 9 degrees Celsius (16.2 F) of warming.
The region, which already has record-breaking summer temperatures, is currently close to exceeding 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 F) of warming on average compared to preindustrial temperatures. Additional warming in the region could make some areas uninhabitable without adaptation measures.
