Climate experts say Milwaukee is on track to be the warmest it's ever been in recorded history

 

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) --There's no doubt we've felt the effects of climate change over the years and especially during 2023. Climate experts have confirmed this will be the warmest year in recorded history, including in Milwaukee.

Aiden Kuroski has been a meteorologist at the Milwaukee National Weather Service for more than five years and he said the city of Milwaukee is on track to be the warmest it's ever been since temperatures were recorded in the 1800s.

Kuroski added that the warm winter Wisconsin has experienced this year is, in part, due to the world experiencing what's known as "El Niño."

"El Niño is particularly strong this year," Kuroski said.

Kuroski said 'El Niño' refers to the warm part of a natural tropical pacific climate pattern, which leads to hotter weather across the board.

"December in particular has been extremely warm for Milwaukee; in fact, it's likely to break the all-time December record by over a degree," he said.

Though it may not seem like much, Kuroski said that difference is pretty significant. Prior to 2023, the warmest December on record for Milwaukee was back in 2015.

"Which was 37.7 degrees and then, for this year, we're on track for 38.9 degrees...in fact, we haven't had any measurable snow through the entire month of December thus far," he explained.

Kuroski said there has been a warming trend at least over the last 15 years and there are many different contributing factors.

"One of the things is greenhouse gases, that's the one thing that we track," he said. "One thing people don't realize is that the largest greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is actually water vapor, so we track that, but water vapor tends to be pretty stagnant year over year, it doesn't change very much, however, one of the things that has changed over time has been carbon dioxide."

That's the one humans tend to contribute to the most.

The burning of fossil fuels, including coal, oil and gas, accounts for more than 75 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the United Nations.

"And that's something to take note of and that's what climate researchers are constantly looking at: to try to get an idea of what does this mean for us, what is this leading to?"

Climate experts say without swift emissions cuts, catastrophic floods, fires, and droughts will continue.