2016 Is Already Even Hotter Than Hottest Year Ever Emily J. Gertz - TakePart
go to original August 9, 2016

Climate experts say global temperatures set a record for the second straight year and are expected to continue to climb. (Wall Street Journal)

It’s official: 2015 surpassed 2014 as the hottest year on Earth since the mid- to late-19th century, when humanity started burning increasing amounts of fossil fuels to power factories and transportation.

According to State of the Climate 2015, a recent report by the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, a strong El Niño amplified the effects of long-term climate change, thus driving 2015’s average global temperatures 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (more than 1 degree Celsius) higher than preindustrial norms.

That beat 2014’s record high by 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit (0.1 degrees Celsius).

Sea surface temperatures and upper ocean heat also hit the highest average temperatures ever recorded, and global sea levels were the highest in the satellite measurements record, which began in 1993.

Communities around the world felt the effects. Forest fires began burning in March in Saskatchewan, Canada, torching 4.5 million acres, six times the provincial average. The fires spurred the evacuation of 13,000 people from their homes.

Record-high temperatures in Alaska helped trigger the state’s second-worst wildfire season - more than 5.1 million acres burned - and the state’s glaciers (along with glaciers around the world) lost more ice than in any other year on record.

Read the rest at TakePart

Related: Climate Change. Is Here. Now. Seriously. - Dire NOAA Report Warns (Common Dreams)

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