The top 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998, with nine of those in this century alone. Now, it looks like 2015 is on tap to once again smash the record for the warmest year on record across the globe.
READ MORE: 2014 warmest in 134 years: NASA, NOAA
On Wednesday the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said that the average September temperature across land and sea was 0.90 C above the 20th century average for the month, making it the highest September temperature on record, beating last September’s by 0.19 C.
But what makes the news somewhat more concerning is that the global temperature from January to September was 0.85 C above the 20th century average. In fact, it beat out 2014’s January to September average by 0.12 C — and 2014 was the warmest year on record.
The likely cause for this year’s record temperatures lies with El Niño. However, the report said, “This departure from average is also 0.25°C (0.45°F) higher than the global ocean temperature for September 1997, when the last strong El Niño occurred.”
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Though there are still three months to record, it’s easy to see the trend.
From January to September, there have been six warmest months on record: March, May, June, July, August and September. January and February 2015 held the second ranking with April only coming in as the fourth warmest April on record.
Individually, the land temperatures were 1.29 C above average with the ocean temperatures 0.69 C above average, indicating that there is not just one source of heat.
With El Niño forecast to extend into the spring, chances are that the temperatures will continue on its warming trend.
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