A global temperature rise of 1.5°C doesn't sound like much, is it that bad?

Weather Presenter Chris Page explains the significance of a temperature rise of 1.5°C

For years climate scientist have argued that we must keep global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius to avoid irreversible impacts. But in recent studies it's now thought that keeping the global temperature below 1.5°C is a much safer limit for the planet.

Day to day our temperatures can vary wildly. But that’s just our short-term weather.The 1.5°C refers to our global climate, the increase in the Earth’s average temperature measured over a longer period of time. The latest temperature data published by the World Meteorological Organisation shows that the current average temperature rise is just over 1°C.

Not everyone is feeling the effects of global warming equally. The poles are warming about three times quicker than the rest of the world. And there are thresholds in the natural world where just 1°C makes a huge difference. We've already seen a large loss in sea ice, an increase in natural disasters such as storms, heat waves, floods, and droughts around the world as well as a drop in the resilience of organisms to withstand unnatural changes in temperatures. The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report states that more extreme weather events are more likely. In a warming world, warmer air also holds more moisture which creates more extreme weather too for us to tackle.