NASA + NOAA Confirm This Was The Hottest Summer On Record
This summer was hot. Not hot like every summer is hot, but hot like the hottest summer since modern record-keeping began 174 years ago in 1850, NOAA and NASA confirmed yesterday. With August coming in at 2.2F warmer than average, the overall summer was 2.1F hotter than average, and nearly half a degree hotter than any other summer on record. NASA climate scientist Josh Willis explained that, “With background warming and marine heat waves that have been creeping up on us for decades, this El Niño shot us over the hump for setting all kinds of records. The heat waves that we experience now are longer, they’re hotter, and they’re more punishing. The atmosphere can also hold more water now, and when it’s hot and humid, it’s even harder for the human body to regulate its temperature.” It's also continuing a streak of temperatures above the 20-century average, as NOAA's Sara Kapnick pointed out that, “Not only was last month the warmest August on record by quite a lot, it was also the globe’s 45th-consecutive August and the 534th-consecutive month with temperatures above the 20th-century average." Channeling the exasperated frustration of climate scientists everywhere, NASA-GISS director Gavin Schmidt confirmed that “Unfortunately, climate change is happening. Things that we said would come to pass are coming to pass. And it will get worse if we continue to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere.”
(NASA, NOAA, USA Today, USA Today Visualizations, Bloomberg $, CNET)
(Climate Signals background: Extreme Heat and Heat Waves)
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