NOAA and NASA released separate reports today on the 2016 global climate. Both agencies using separate methods determined that 2016 was the warmest year on record, beating out last year’s record. The warmth included most of the globe with a few small areas of cooler temperatures. The NOAA report can be found at https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201612 and the NASA report at https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/noaa-nasa_global_analysis-2016.pdf. The strong El Niño which dominated the climate in the first half of the year certainly helped the globe reach this new record and most climatologists think that 2017 will probably not be as warm as 2016 since the El Niño is no longer occurring but has been replaced for now by a weak La Niña.
