2015 was hottest on Earth by a wide margin

Earth’s surface temperature in 2015 was its highest since modern temperature record keeping began in 1880. Since then, nine of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred since 2002, according to NOAA.

The year 2015 surpassed 2014’s record by 0.29°F (0.16°C). It is true that El Niño assisted the rise in global mean temperatures but even in its absence 2015 would be the hottest year ever.

Previous year veered 0.90 degrees Celsius – or 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit – from the 20th century average of combined average land and sea temperatures, a new record.

But while this periodic weather pattern is partly to blame for bringing the heat, the central problem remains ongoing climate change as a result of human activity, according to NASA and NOAA.

Global temperatures tied or broke existing monthly records for all but two months of the year. “Today’s announcement not only underscores how critical NASA’s Earth observation program is, it is also a key data point that should make policy makers stand up and take notice – now is the time to act on our climate”, he said.

Land temperatures hit record highs across the world with an average temperature of 2.39F degrees above the 20th century average.

2015 was a record-shattering year in many ways, one of which is the year’s jarring temperature as the hottest 365 days in historical record.

Anderson added that though the strong El Niño will weaken in the spring, effects will spread into much of 2016.

The agency confirmed its earlier expectation that 2015 was the warmest year since accurate records have been kept, starting in 1880, for the globally averaged temperature. Only January was the second warmest January on record and April third warmest.

However, this may have not been the case for Qatar, which saw record-breaking temperatures in 2015 but no overall jump, a local meteorologist told Doha News.

Not surprisingly, snow cover also shrunk previous year: the average annual Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during 2015 was 9.5 million square miles, the smallest amount since 2008. There’s no sign at all that the long term global warming trend will slow down any time soon, said NASA researcher Gavin Schmidt.