2020 likely to be second warmest year on record globally, says UN agency

This year is on track to be the second hottest on record, behind 2016, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Wednesday. Five data sets currently place 2020, a year characterised by heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, and raging hurricanes, as the second warmest since records began in 1850. Stoked by extreme heat, wildfires flared across Australia, Siberia, and the United States this year, sending smoke plumes around the globe.