In India's Kargil region, mountain glaciers are shrinking due to rising temperatures and reduced snowfall.
Asia remains the world's most disaster-prone region in 2023 due to weather, climate and water-related hazards, according to a report released today by the World Meteorological Organization. Floods and storms cause the highest casualties and economic losses, while the impact of heat waves has become more severe.
According to the State of the Asian Climate 2023 report, Asia will warm faster than the global average in 2023. Since 1961–1990, warming trends have almost doubled.
temperature
The annual mean near-surface temperature in Asia in 2023 was the second highest on record, 0.91°C above the 1991–2020 average and 1.87°C above the 1961–1990 average. Particularly high average temperatures were observed from western Siberia to Central Asia and from eastern China to Japan. Japan and Kazakhstan both had record warm years.
precipitation
In 2023, precipitation was low over most of the Turan Lowlands (Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan), the Hindu Kush (Afghanistan, Pakistan), the Himalayas, around the Ganges and the lower Brahmaputra (India and Bangladesh), the Rakhine Mountains (Myanmar), and the lower Mekong. Southwest China has experienced a drought, with low rainfall almost every month in 2023, and below-average rainfall associated with the Indian summer monsoon.
Cryosphere
The Asian alpine region is a high-altitude region centered on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, which contains the largest amount of ice outside the polar regions, covering an area of about 100,000 square kilometers. Over the past few decades, most of these glaciers have retreated, and the rate is accelerating.
Of the 22 glaciers observed in the alpine regions of Asia, 20 showed sustained mass loss. Record-breaking high temperatures and dry conditions in the Eastern Himalayas, as well as in much of the Tien Shan, have exacerbated mass loss in most glaciers. During the period 2022–2023, the Urumqi No. 1 glacier in eastern Tianshan experienced the second-highest negative mass balance since measurements began in 1959.
Sea surface temperature and ocean heat
In 2023, the average sea surface temperature anomaly over the Northwest Pacific was the warmest on record.
In the northwestern Arabian Sea, the Philippine Sea, and the waters east of Japan, the upper ocean (0 m – 700 m) is warming particularly strongly, more than three times the global average.
Extreme events
In 2023, more than 80% of hydrometeorological disasters in Asia were flood and storm events. Specifically, among the events reported in 2023, flooding is the leading cause of death, far more than any other cause. In India, Yemen and Pakistan, floods are the deadliest natural disaster events, highlighting Asia's continued high vulnerability to natural disaster events, particularly floods.
There have been multiple extreme precipitation events in 2023. In June, July and August, floods and storms occurred in India, Pakistan and Nepal, killing more than 600 people.
In August and early September 2023, the Far East of the Russian Federation was hit by catastrophic floods, one of the largest in recent decades, affecting about 40,000 hectares of rural land.
In 2023, extreme heat events occurred in many parts of Asia. Japan experienced its hottest summer on record. China experienced 14 heat events in the summer, about 70% of the national meteorological stations exceeded 40°C, and 16 stations broke their temperature records.
