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2015 marks Singapore's warmest year on record

Xinhua, March 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

The average mean temperature for Singapore in 2015 was 28.3 degree Celsius, making it the warmest recorded year in the city state's history, Meteorological Service Singapore (MSS) announced in its annual climate assessment report on Tuesday.

MSS said the temperature experienced last year exceeded the climatological average by 0.8 degree Celsius, and made 2015 as the warmest year in Singapore tied with 1997 and 1998.

Singapore saw warmer than normal monthly temperatures for all months last year except February, and July, October, November and December were the warmest months.

The meteorological agency added that December last year observed the highest recorded temperatures since temperature records in Singapore began in 1929, according to Channel News Asia's report.

The warming trend in Singapore has been observed over decades. MSS said the average rise of 0.25 degree Celsius per decade from 1948 to 2015 was more than twice the global warming rate (0.12 degree Celsius) over the same period.

The warming trend was observed against the background of year-to-year climate variability, mostly associated with El Nino and La Nina. MSS said that last year turned out to be the second driest year on record. The driest year was in 1997.

The drier weather in the second half of 2015 was exacerbated by the prevailing El Nino, which in turn contributed to one of the longest and most severe transboundary haze experienced in Singapore, MSS explained.

The meteorological agency also said warmer conditions can still be expected for the next one or two months, as the mean monthly temperatures are likely to be significantly higher than their respective long-term averages. Enditem