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Extreme Heat Becoming More Frequent and Intense, UN Agency Says

Castel Sant'Angelo, at background right, towers over the Tiber River, which has reached a low water level after several months without rain, in Rome, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP)
Castel Sant'Angelo, at background right, towers over the Tiber River, which has reached a low water level after several months without rain, in Rome, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP)
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Extreme Heat Becoming More Frequent and Intense, UN Agency Says

Castel Sant'Angelo, at background right, towers over the Tiber River, which has reached a low water level after several months without rain, in Rome, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP)
Castel Sant'Angelo, at background right, towers over the Tiber River, which has reached a low water level after several months without rain, in Rome, Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2026. (AP)

Periods of extreme heat are becoming more frequent, intense and longer-lasting as climate change warms the planet, the UN weather agency said on Tuesday, noting changes since the famously hot European summer of 1976. Parts of Europe are enduring their fifth heatwave of a summer marked by drought, wildfires and record-breaking temperatures.

"Extreme heat is becoming more frequent, more intense, ‌it's lasting longer, and ‌covering much wider areas than in ‌the ⁠cooler climates of the ⁠past," John Kennedy, the World Meteorological Organization's head of climate information, told a press briefing in Geneva.

Kennedy said the current pattern of heat across Europe, the world's fastest-warming continent, reflected the interaction between a persistent pattern of high-pressure systems across the Northern Hemisphere and a warmer climate.

The high-pressure systems trap warm air, reduce cloud cover and ⁠block cooler air from moving in, allowing heat ‌to build over large regions for ‌days or weeks. El Niño, the naturally occurring climate pattern that typically boosts ‌global temperatures, was not contributing to Europe's heat this year ‌because conditions in the tropical Pacific are currently neutral, he added.

CHANGES OVER THE PAST FIVE DECADES

Kennedy noted that June 1976 featured a broadly similar pattern of high and low pressure systems to those seen this year, ‌but said the outcomes were very different because of decades of global warming.

"The picture for 1976 ⁠is one ⁠of a few isolated areas above average temperatures in a much cooler world," he said, whereas today "the picture is reversed" with much of the globe experiencing above-average temperatures and only a few isolated cooler regions.

Exceptionally warm seas and parched soils were amplifying temperatures across Europe, Kennedy said.

Marine heatwaves in the Mediterranean Sea and waters west of Europe are fueling hotter conditions on land by providing additional background warmth for persistent high-pressure systems, he added.

Dry ground was also intensifying the heat because soils warm more quickly once moisture is depleted.

"Lots of these factors are coming together to give us the record heat that we're seeing this year," Kennedy stated.

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Varieties

Sydney Sweats in Spring Hot Spell, Faces ‘Extreme’ Bushfire Risk

A ferry passes in front of apartments in Sydney, Australia, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)
A ferry passes in front of apartments in Sydney, Australia, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)
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Sydney Sweats in Spring Hot Spell, Faces ‘Extreme’ Bushfire Risk

A ferry passes in front of apartments in Sydney, Australia, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)
A ferry passes in front of apartments in Sydney, Australia, August 18, 2026. (Reuters)

Australia's most ‌populous city Sydney baked in a burst of sweltering spring heat on Saturday, raising the risk of bushfires and prompting authorities to issue a ban on lighting fires.

The heat comes as a powerful El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific, expected to be among the strongest in decades, drives hotter and drier ‌conditions across ‌southern Australia during the September-November spring ‌season.

On ⁠Saturday, the nation's ⁠weather forecaster said temperatures in the New South Wales capital, home to 5.6 million people, were set to hit 33 degrees Celsius (91.4 degrees Fahrenheit), nearly 13C above average.

At Sydney Airport, the temperature ⁠was already 28.6C (83.48F) at 11:30 ‌a.m. (0130 GMT)local ‌time, more than seven degrees above the September mean ‌maximum temperature, according to forecaster data.

"Fresh ‌to strong and gusty northwesterly winds developing during the morning, combined with dry, unseasonably warm conditions, will result in elevated fire dangers ‌across the Greater Sydney Region today," the forecaster said.

State fire authorities ⁠issued ⁠a total fire ban for Sydney where they rated fire risk as "extreme", the second highest danger rating.

Climate change is causing extreme heat and fire weather to become more common in Australia, a bushfire-prone country of around 27 million. In January, thousands of firefighters battled bushfires in the southeast that razed homes, cut power to thousands of homes and burned swathes of bushland.

Varieties

How Haze from Indonesian Fires Impacts Southeast Asia

This aerial photo taken from a commercial plane shows haze from Indonesian forest fires blanketing a residential district in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak state on the island of Borneo on September 5, 2026. (AFP)
This aerial photo taken from a commercial plane shows haze from Indonesian forest fires blanketing a residential district in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak state on the island of Borneo on September 5, 2026. (AFP)
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How Haze from Indonesian Fires Impacts Southeast Asia

This aerial photo taken from a commercial plane shows haze from Indonesian forest fires blanketing a residential district in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak state on the island of Borneo on September 5, 2026. (AFP)
This aerial photo taken from a commercial plane shows haze from Indonesian forest fires blanketing a residential district in Kuching, the capital city of Sarawak state on the island of Borneo on September 5, 2026. (AFP)

Thick smog has blanketed parts of Indonesia as the vast archipelago for weeks battles to contain fires that have burned large swathes of Borneo and Sumatra.

The hazardous smoke has led to an increase in respiratory problems, forced schools to close, and has been drifting to neighbouring countries including -- Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines.

Here's what to know:

- Where are the fires? -

Most of the fires are concentrated on Borneo island, home to vast tropical jungle that Indonesia shares with Brunei and Malaysia, as well as Sumatra.

So far this year, nearly 300,000 hectares of land have burned in Indonesia, according to an independent estimate from the Nusantara Atlas portal.

Indonesia saw an uptick in carbon emissions since late July, and by the end of last month the levels were comparable to previous El Nino years of 2015 and 2019, Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) senior scientist Mark Parrington told AFP.

"We're seeing already now... really extreme fire emissions comparable to those previous strong El Nino years, and also the extent of the smoke and the haze and the air quality impacts," Parrington said.

Fires in the archipelago have released more than 23 million metric tons of carbon emissions between August 28 and September 3, according to CAMS' Fire Emission Watch portal.

It was higher than 20.7 million metric tons of emissions from fires over the same period in 2015, which was a strong El Nino year.

- What causes the fires? -

Analysts said that the El Nino weather phenomenon, which the United Nations said this week could turn out to be the strongest in four decades, has contributed to creating drier conditions in Indonesia and made it easier for fires to spread.

But slash-and-burn land-clearing practices also contributed to the damage, said David Gaveau, founder of the Nusantara Atlas.

"El Nino does not ignite fires. It creates the dry conditions that allow human-started fires to escape and become very large," he told AFP.

The fires are difficult to extinguish because many occurred on peatlands, a wetland ecosystem with layers of partially decomposed organic materials that become flammable when dry.

Between January and August this year, more than 210,000 hotspots were detected in peatland areas across the country, according to NGO Pantau Gambut.

"Peat is a naturally wet ecosystem and stores large amounts of organic material. When peat is drained, this organic material is converted into fuel," Pantau Gambut spokesman Wahyu Perdana said.

- What is the impact? -

More than five million people across Borneo and Sumatra are directly exposed to the health risks from haze, deputy health minister Dante Saksono Harbuwono said last month.

Over 1.4 million students were attending classes remotely, with many schools closed due to worsening air quality, an education ministry official said this week.

In Malaysia, soaring pollution levels prompted the government on Friday to declare an emergency in a region of the Sarawak state in Borneo, with nearly 650 schools closed next week.

In the Philippines, air quality was slowly returning to normal after a week of reaching "very unhealthy" and "severely unhealthy" PM 2.5 levels that saw officials shutter schools in cities and provinces citing the drifting haze.

The haze also drove air quality in Singapore's central region to an "unhealthy" level on Friday, the country's National Environment Agency data showed.

Varieties

Jordan’s Government Launches AI-Powered Digital Spokesperson ‘Farah’

Farah's account on the Instagram platform
Farah's account on the Instagram platform
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Jordan’s Government Launches AI-Powered Digital Spokesperson ‘Farah’

Farah's account on the Instagram platform
Farah's account on the Instagram platform

The account of the Jordanian government’s digital spokesperson, "Farah," has been launched on Instagram as a new digital platform for communicating with the public and providing citizens with information in a simple and direct manner.

In its announcement on X introducing “Farah,” the Jordanian Ministry of Government Communications included a video clip of the character, who introduced herself in a colloquial dialect as a digital spokesperson.

“This is considered the first experience of its kind in the region and the world.”

"Farah" is a virtual character developed using artificial intelligence technologies. She has begun appearing on social media platforms as part of efforts to harness modern technology to enhance communication with citizens, Jordan News Agency (Petra) reported Friday.

The launch aims to address questions and inquiries concerning issues of public interest through digital content tailored to social media users, Petra said.

Speaking in a simple and accessible style, "Farah" is intended to complement traditional communication channels in an innovative experience designed to keep pace with the rapid digital transformation and changing ways in which the public receives official information and news.

The launch of the digital spokesperson is seen as a pioneering step in the use of artificial intelligence in institutional work and public communication, as government institutions seek to strengthen their presence on digital platforms and reach broader segments of society.