World Meteorological Day (WWD) is celebrated every March 23 to commemorate the entry into force of the 1950 Convention establishing the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). This event aims to highlight the essential contribution of the National Meteorological and Hydrological Services to the safety and well-being of society. This 2023 the theme chosen is “The future of weather, climate and water through generations“. With this motto, WMO seeks to underline the idea that we live on an interconnected planet in which we share an Earth, with an atmosphere and an ocean that know no borders or politics and for which international cooperation is essential. In addition, the celebration of World Meteorological Day 2023 aims to highlight the importance of data collection, scientific vision and technological development on which the weather forecasts we can count on today are based. However, this date also reminds us that the weather is changing. According to the WMO, as a result of greenhouse gases, which trap heat. Likewise, the climate is more extreme, the ocean is warmer and more acidic, sea levels have risen, and glaciers and ice are melting. For its part, the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that synthesizes eight years of work (2015-2023) also points out that human activities, mainly through greenhouse gas emissions, have caused global temperatures to rise by 1.1 ºC compared to pre-industrial times (1850-1900). In addition, it also indicates that they will do so by 2.8 ºC if they do not improve the current emission reduction commitments. That is why the report recommends the adoption of alternative energies such as solar or wind, highlighting that the cost of these has decreased, thanks to research, by 85% and 55% respectively, to promote the transition to low-emission energies. The paper notes that reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could also slow sea level rise, although the study maintains that in the next 2,000 years average sea level would rise by 2 to 3 meters if global warming is limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius. At the national level, the State Meteorological Agency (AEMET), under the Ministry for Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge, has published its climate balance for the winter in the 2022-2023 period, which was overall hot and humid. According to AEMET, it has been the tenth warmest winter since the beginning of the series in 1961 and the fifth warmest of the 21st century. In addition, he assures that, although winter rainfall was slightly above the normal average and alleviated part of the situation, it was not enough to alleviate the meteorological drought situation in which we have been since January 2022. Likewise, the balance also provides the first predictions available for the summer of 2023 that point to the most likely scenario of temperatures above the normal average .

A season, therefore, in which fire risk indices could reach very high values as a result of high temperatures. For all of the above, it is necessary to promote ambitious and transformative measures to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change that will reduce emissions and guarantee a prosperous future for future generations.