Our global temperatures are soaring toward a record high this year, the United Nations weather agency said on Monday. While another report showed emissions of a key global-warming gas have flattened out in the past three years. news reports show record saying that after two consecutive years of record-breaking heat, 2016 looks to be yet another hot year.
2016 To Beat The Heat Record
The United Nations weather agency said Monday that the global temperature is making it unbeatable to reach. The reports injected a mix of gloom and hope at UN climate talks in Marrakech this week. According to CBC News, The WMO's preliminary data through October showed world temperatures, boosted by the El Niño phenomenon, are 1.2 C above pre-industrial levels.
"Another year. Another record. The high temperatures we saw in 2015 are set to be beaten in 2016," said Petteri Taalas, the head of the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO said 16 of the 17 hottest years have occurred this century. The only exception was 1998, which was also an El Niño year. The El Niño of fall 2015-winter 2016 was one of the strongest in years.
As reported by IBM, Taalas said parts of the Arctic Russia saw temperatures sailing 6 to 7˚C above average. “We are used to measuring temperature records in fractions of a degree, and so this is different,” he said. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced that from May 2015 to August 2016, the Earth set monthly heat records for 16 straight months.
Scientists blame continued man-made climate change from the burning of fossil fuels, goosed by a now-gone El Nino. El Nino is the occasional natural warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather worldwide. The first 10 months of 2016 have been the hottest year to date, averaging 59.15 degrees (15.07 Celsius). That beats 2015 by .18 degrees (.1 Celsius).
What is El Niño?
El Niño is a climate cycle in the Pacific Ocean with a global impact on weather patterns. The cycle begins when warm water in the western tropical Pacific Ocean shifts eastward along the equator toward the coast of South America. Normally, this warm water pools near Indonesia and the Philippines. Forecasters declare an official El Niño when they see both ocean temperatures and rainfall from storms veer to the east.
