WMO report finds Asia’s 2025 heat and ocean temperatures among record highs

Asia experienced one of its warmest years on record in 2025, according to a World Meteorological Organization report published in June 2026. The region’s mean temperature was 0.96°C above the 1991–2020 average, making 2025 between the second and fourth warmest year in the record.

The report said all 23 monitored glaciers in High-Mountain Asia lost mass during the 2025 glaciological year. Ocean heat content reached a record high, while marine heatwaves covered more than 10 million square kilometres of Asian ocean area between July and September.

Across much of the northern Indian Ocean, sea levels rose faster than the global average. Along the Indian subcontinent’s coasts, the rate averaged 4.9 millimetres a year from 1999 to 2025, compared with roughly 3.6 millimetres globally.

Precipitation varied across the continent: parts of southern and eastern Asia had above-average rainfall, while West and Central Asia faced drier conditions. WMO highlighted early warnings and impact-based forecasts as tools for communities facing these risks. The findings describe 2025 observations, not a forecast for a particular day in 2026.

Source: UN Information Centre reporting WMO’s State of the Climate in Asia 2025, 23 June 2026.