GENEVA, Dec. 15 (Xinhuanet) -- The year 2005 is currently the second warmest year on record, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said Thursday.

    The global mean surface temperature in 2005 is currently estimated to be 0.48 celsius degree above the 1961-1990 annual average of 14 celsius degree, according to an annual WMO review of the status of the global climate.

    "Areas of significant warmth were widespread with large areas of Africa, Australia, Brazil, China and the United States showing significantly above-average temperatures," WMO Secretary-General Michel Jarraud told reporters.

    Weather extremes reach new levels in 2005, with prolonged drought in some regions, heavy precipitation and flooding in many other regions, record number of deadly hurricanes, greater ozone depletion in the Antarctic and Arctic, and intensified decline of Arctic sea-ice, according to the United Nations weather agency.

    2005 saw an unprecedented 26 named tropical storms that caused devastating losses across Central America, the Caribbean and the United States, and 14 of them were hurricanes, including seven "major" hurricanes. It broke the previous record for the most named storms (21 storms in 1933) and for the most hurricanes (12 in 1969).

    Hurricane Katrina, which killed at least 1,300 people, was the deadliest hurricane to affect the United States since 1928, while Hurricane Wilma was the most intense Atlantic Hurricane ever recorded.

    Although he couldn't assert that global warming was responsiblefor generating the hurricanes, Jarraud said global warming was clearly tied to the increasing incidence of heat waves, the spread of deserts in areas short of rain, as well as the melting of Arctic sea-ice. Enditem