It's close but 2020 likely to end up hottest year on record
Meteorologists say it'll be close but it's looking like 2020 globally will end up as the hottest year on record
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Just how warm Earth stays this December will determine if 2020 goes down as the hottest year on record. And it’s looking a lot like it will.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration calculated Monday that last month globally was the second hottest November on record, behind only 2015. Yet NASA and a European climate monitoring group said it was the hottest November on record. NASA has coverage over the poles that NOAA does not — and both the Arctic and Antarctic were very warm in November, NOAA climate scientist Ahira Sanchez-Lugo said to explain the difference.
Earth’s temperature in November was 56.95 degrees (13.87 degrees Celsius), which was 1.75 degrees (0.97 degrees Celsius) above the 20th century average, according to NOAA. Nearly 7% of the world had record-warm November temperatures, including Australia and Norway.
NOAA’s calculations show that the first 11 months of 2020 were .02 degrees (0.01 Celsius) cooler than record-hot 2016, but there’s a 55% chance that 2020 will end up the warmest on record. If December is as much above normal as November was, then 2020 will at least tie 2016 as the warmest on record, Sanchez-Lugo said. Florida, Virginia and Maryland so far have had their hottest year on record, while California had its hottest fall.
For its part, NASA said 2020 so far is the warmest on record and it's likely to stay that way.
Using NASA data, if December is just 0.59 degrees (0.33 degrees Celsius) above the 1980 to 2010 average, 2020 should be the hottest year on record. November was much more above average than that, and December so far has been 1.16 degrees (0.64 Celsius) above normal, said Zeke Hausfather, climate scientist with the Berkeley Earth climate-monitoring group.
NASA and NOAA records go back to 1880. Emissions from the burning of coal, oil and natural gas cause the planet to warm.
___
Follow AP’s climate coverage here.
___
Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter: @borenbears .
___
The Associated Press Health & Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.