The baseline for "normal" weather must be updated more frequently to account for the major shifts caused by global warming, the U.N. World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Wednesday. The WMO Commission for Climatology believes rising temperatures and more heatwaves and heavy rains mean the existing baseline, based on the climate averages between 1961 to 1990, is out of date as a guide, the WMO said in a statement. "For water resources, agriculture, and energy, the old averages no longer reflect the current realities," Omar Baddour, the chief of data management at the WMO commission, told Reuters in Oslo, Norway. Under current rules, the 1961-1990 baseline is set to be updated in 2021 with the data from 1991-2020. The WMO commission wants to see updates every decade, making the current baseline 1981-2010 and the next period 1991-2020. Some weather services already have adopted new baselines, causing confusion. "Different researchers and weather services are using different baselines, which results in inconsistent comparisons," the WMO said.
