Earth’s heat record broken third year in a row
FLORIDA, United States – For the third year in a row, Earth has shattered heat records.
According to scientists from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Centers for Environmental Information, temperatures spiked to new national highs in parts of India, Kuwait and Iran, while sea ice melted faster than ever in the fragile Arctic.
For eight consecutive months last year – January to August – the globe experienced record warm heat. With this as a catalyst, the 2016 globally averaged surface temperature ended as the highest since record keeping began in 1880.
The average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces in 2016 was 58.69 degrees F or 1.69 degrees F above the 20th century average. This surpassed last year’s record by 0.07 degrees F. Since the start of the 21st century, the annual global temperature record has been broken five times (2005, 2010, 2014, 2015, and 2016).
Despite the cooling influence of a weak La Nina in the latter part of the year, the year ended with the third warmest December on record for the globe, with an average temperature 1.42 degrees F above the 20th century average.
In a separate analysis of global temperature data released at the same time, scientists from NASA also found 2016 to be the warmest year on record.
Also of significance was that North America had its warmest year on record; South America and Africa had their second; Asia and Europe had their third; and Australia had its fifth.
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