India, June 23 -- Asia is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, fuelling more extreme weather and wreaking a heavy toll on the region's economies, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO)'s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report released on Monday said.

The report said Asia's average temperature in 2024 was about 1.04degC above the 1991-2020 average, the warmest or second warmest year on record. In 2024, heatwaves gripped a record area of the ocean. Sea surface temperatures were the highest on record. Asia's sea surface decadal warming rate was nearly double the global average. Sea level rise on the Pacific and Indian Ocean sides of the continent exceeded the global average, heightening risks for low-lying coastal area...