What is the Warmest Year on Record Ever?

In January 2016, three different independent temperature monitors published their figures on global temperatures for the last year. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the UK Met Office, widely considered to be the three premier sources of temperature data around the globe, all conclusively agreed that 2015 was the hottest year on record.

More concerning, that mantle had been held by the previous year until 2015 broke the record, meaning that the two hottest years happened successively. Even more concerning still, 2016 is predicted to be even warmer than both, meaning that for the first time ever, the hottest years in the Earth’s history will happen successively.

Dispelling a Myth

One common argument used by climate change deniers (who, although they are thankfully diminishing in number, still do exist) is that NASA had previously asserted that 1934 remained as the hottest year on record. The discrepancy here is that 1934 was indeed the warmest year for some time… in the US. Since the USA only accounts for 2% of landmass worldwide, using its statistics as an example distorts the truth, especially with regard to global warming (the clue is in the name).

Furthermore, 1934 can’t even boast that title anymore. In fact, according to the NOAA, 2012 is the hottest year since records began in the States alone, with 2015 and 2002 sharing the mantle of joint second. Therefore, the old argument that climate change can’t really be a serious threat since hot summers were taking place as far back as the 1930s holds no water at all.

The Truth about Climate Change

In contrast, the truth is that climate change poses a very real risk to our way of lives – especially to those of us living in lower-lying regions or on small islands. The irony here is that the ones most at threat from the impact of climate change are the ones least culpable for its occurrence.

In particular, a group of Pacific Island nations find their very existence threatened by the melting of the polar ice caps and the raising of sea levels, so much so that they made a last-ditch plea to world leaders prior to the COP21 talks in Paris to keep global warming below 1.5°C (and not the target of 2°C that had been previously discussed).  

The latest data accrued by these three temperature agencies reveals that 10 of the 12 months of the calendar year in 2015 were hotter than in any other year, and that 15 of the 16 hottest years on record have occurred since 2001. Climate change is real, and it is dangerous.

The sophisticated technology used by organisations such as the Met Office has allowed a greater insight into ever-changing weather patterns than ever before and affords us the opportunity to make informed decisions on our behaviour, habits and routines… but will we pay attention, before it’s too late?