Scientists Say 2015 Was The Hottest Year EVER

The previous record, which was set the year before in 2014, was left behind by what is considered a wide margin when it comes to global averages (0.23 degrees Fahrenheit or 0.13 Celsius).

Temperatures got a slight boost from El Nino in the final three months of the year – the Northeast in particular experienced exceptionally mild weather from the warming pattern in the Pacific Ocean, which some evidence suggests may be tied to global warming. But it’s now happened two years in a row – and 2015 was “very, very clearly the warmest year by a long chalk”, says Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

NASA says the global warming trend has progressed dramatically in recent history, with 15 of the 16 warmest years on record occurring since 2001.

In a statement, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that climate change is a great problem in today’s world and the agency plays an important task on this matter.

NASA acknowledges there is some uncertainty in the accuracy of the weather station data and estimates that it is 94 percent certain that 2015 was the warmest year ever.

The warmest year on Earth since records have been kept ended with the warmest month above average since records have been kept, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday.

The report, which was confirmed by a separate analysis from NASA scientists, marks the fourth time a global temperature record has been set this century.

Locally, the concern with rising temperatures is the impact on the sea level. While a warming El Niño was in effect for most of the year, 2015 is still considered “remarkable”.

The short video illustrates the change in temperatures by using an orange coloured graphic which increases in density as the years go by. In December of last year, the average surface temperatures of land and oceans around the globe was the highest on record for any month in 136 years of record keeping, according to NOAA.

“People were thinking it was a global warming hoax when the world announced the warmest winter on record – because we were going through one of the coldest in Ontario, Quebec and Atlantic Canada”, said Phillips. 1988 was also a record year. This was also 0.90 degree Celsius (1.62 degrees Fahrenheit) higher than the average 20century temperature.

The modern climate record begins in 1880.