Across Canada in 2023, wildfires burned 18.5 million hectares (45.7 million acres). That is eight times the 25-year average reported by Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre. But fire and resulting air pollution are only part of the problems presented by climate change.

The National Centers for Environmental Information is a U.S. government agency that manages one of the world’s largest archives of atmospheric, coastal, geophysical, and oceanic data. It is reporting a worrisome trend…

But measurements taken in the first days of 2024 suggest the worst is yet to come. On Twitter Tzeporah Berman said:

If this doesn’t terrify you, you aren’t paying attention. Global sea surface temperatures are higher than ever recorded, and atmospheric carbon dioxide just jumped up about 4ppm in a couple of days.