Climate Change - 2015 global temperatures
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a chart that illustrates how warm 2015 is, compared to the six other warmest years on record.
2015 is running away with the title of 'warmest year'.
The reason is a combination of global warming, and a strong El Nino event in the Pacific Ocean.
NOAA also released a comparison to all the years back to 1880, which is when the modern temperature record began.
It's also useful to look at years one by one in another way, colour-coded for El Nino, La Nina and 'neutral' years:
Every La Nina year since 1998 was warmer than every El Nino year before 1995.
Note that 2015 has not yet been added to that chart.
2015 is running away with the title of 'warmest year'.
The reason is a combination of global warming, and a strong El Nino event in the Pacific Ocean.
NOAA also released a comparison to all the years back to 1880, which is when the modern temperature record began.
It's also useful to look at years one by one in another way, colour-coded for El Nino, La Nina and 'neutral' years:
Every La Nina year since 1998 was warmer than every El Nino year before 1995.
Note that 2015 has not yet been added to that chart.