For several years, the world has been in the grip of La Niña, a weather system in the Pacific that tends to bring cooler temperatures around the world.
Despite that, there has continued to be strong rises in global surface temperatures, with some of the hottest years on record. This year, the oscillating Pacific weather system will probably turn to its opposite, the warming El Niño. That is likely to turbocharge temperatures, and within the next five years we can expect to see new records set, according to the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO).
