When we were in early 2015, scientists announced that 2014 had been the hottest year on record. Now that we are in 2016, climate scientists are announcing that 2015 was even warmer.
I am not surprised given how the weather is warm. As the Climate Reality Project reported ;
NOAA and NASA have both confirmed what scientists have been predicting for months: 2015 was globally the hottest year ever recorded (and the direct temperature records date back to 1880). But what else did scientists determine about the state of the climate in 2015? Here’s what else you need to know.
Not only was 2015 the warmest year on record globally, it beat the previous record, set in 2014, by a wide margin. The average temperature (over land and ocean surfaces) was 1.62°F (0.90°C) above the 20th century average, a full 0.29°F (0.16°C) above the previous record set in 2014.
That might not seem like much, but it’s the widest margin by which the global average annual temperature record has been broken – ever.
Back to old Europe, scientists have come to the same conclusions :
The unusually hot summers in Europe over the last three decades are further evidence that human activities are largely responsible for recent global warming, according to new research.
The scientists say they have found no 30-year periods in the last 2,000 years that have exceeded the mean average European summer temperature of the years from 1986 to 2015.
This new data adds to the fears expressed by scientists only a week ago that parts of the Mediterranean and Arctic regions will heat up by 3.4?C and 6?C respectively above pre-industrial levels.
The new research says that already most of Europe has experienced strong summer warming in the past few decades, withsevere heatwaves in 2003, as well as in 2010 and in 2015.
If the case for carbon neutrality as soon as possible is not made, I don’t know what it will need.
Image credits : Flickr.