The investigation, published on Wednesday, also found that a further 34 million people were affected by extreme weather disasters.
This, it stated, is because Africa has the lowest density of weather stations out of any other continent – making it difficult to know or monitor the extent to which extreme weather is happening and how it might be shifting because of climate change.“More than 3,000 people were killed in flash floods in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda in May,” the investigation reads in part.
“Southern African countries sweltered in a months-long winter heatwave, leaving many facing summer-like conditions for a continuous year.”Although scientists are yet to figure out the reasons why 2023 has seen such extreme heat and unusual weather events, the analysis made reference to known contributors including the 1.3C of temperature rise and El Niño, a natural phenomenon that drives up global temperatures.
Describing the situation as one that has left scientists puzzled, Joyce Kimutai, a climate scientist from Kenya working at theat Imperial College London, said the climate system keeps changing and this has not helped scientists in understanding the situation.