The World Meteorological Organisation says it’s time to shift climate baselines because global warming is increasingly setting a new “normal” for weather conditions.

The widely used 1961-90 baseline should be retained as a "stable reference" for climate study but a more current data set – updated every decade – should be adopted to gauge changes in heatwave and rainstorm frequency already under way, the WMO said.

Australia has set many records for unusual heat over the past 18 months. Credit:John Veage

“Rising atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases are changing the Earth’s climate much faster than before,” the United Nations agency said in a statement . “As a result, decision-makers in climate-sensitive industries may be basing important decisions on information that may be out of date.”

Under the recommendations, all countries would start using the most recent 30-year period, 1981-2010, as the new baseline. This would be updated to the 1991-2020 period in 2021, and revised each decade afterwards.