Report: 2016 was the hottest year ever – the third in a row

Nearly every month in 2016 broke the temperature record for that particular month since records began (with August marking the 11^th hottest month in a row), and July in particular was the most scorching four weeks ever recorded.

So is it any surprise that 2016 is now confirmed as the hottest year on record, for the third year in a row?

Last year was Earth's warmest on record, according to an international climate report issued Thursday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that documents other record-breaking global warming trends of 2016.

The report is the most comprehensive assessment of the effects of climate change released by the Trump administration, and it could make it easier to refute efforts from the president and his Cabinet members to publicly discount climate science as they have frequently done in the past. However, the annual report does not detail the link between climate change and human activities such as burning coal or gasoline. Those conclusions are drawn in a separate draft portion ^{[Link added. —JM]} of the National Climate Assessment highlighted by The New York Times earlier this week.

The “State of the Climate” publication, which confirms findings released before President Donald Trump was sworn in, outlines the observed outcomes of swiftly rising temperatures. They include the highest sea levels ever recorded, extremes in rain cycles and declines in global ice and snow cover.

Until now, 2015 was the previous warmest year on record, and 2014 before that. The top ten hottest years all date back to 1998, with seven – now eight – belonging to the last decade alone.

The reality of a warming planet isn’t limited to milder winters and more beach-worthy summers. As Politico summarizes:

— Greenhouse gas concentrations are higher than ever recorded […] reaching peaks not seen in […] 800,000 years.

— Global surface temperatures are the highest on record.

— Sea levels are the highest they’ve ever been since record keeping began. […]

— Precipitation cycles are becoming more extreme.

— The Arctic is warming faster than the rest of the world.

— Antarctic sea ice levels are lower than ever recorded.

— Alpine glaciers have declined for 37 consecutive years. […]

— There were more tropical cyclones, with 93 storms in 2016, compared with an average of 82 between 1981 and 2010.

A warmer Earth isn’t a better Earth. It doesn’t mean palm trees where once there was snow. It means more extreme weather of all kinds, hot and cold, wet and dry, around the world. (That happens to be where people live.) It means changing climate zones and the ensuing destruction of vast amounts of farmland. It means rising sea levels and the forcible relocation of entire coastlines. It means mass migrations, food shortages and existing supplies collapse, civil unrest like we’ve never seen. If you thought things were bad in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, imagine similar weather events happening around the world on a regular basis.

According to NOAA, the report is “based on contributions from nearly 500 scientists from more than 60 countries around the world and reflects tens of thousands of measurements from multiple independent datasets”. And this joins in with the 82–98% of scientists (depending on the survey) across every public and private institution of note around the world who agree that climate change is happening and humans are the primary cause.

But I’m sure it’s all just a big conspiracy pulled by Big Science to con some sweet grant money out of the government. (So say the denialists who, themselves, receive millions in bribes donations from the oil and gas industry.)

(via Joe.My.God.)