2017 Is Unexpectedly Warm
2017 is so unexpectedly warm it is freaking out climate scientists Still a bit cool here in the Pacific Northwest, but almost everywhere else is experiencing a hot summer, and unexpectedly hot because we don't have an El Nino which usually brings us this kind of heat. Normally, the hottest years on record occur when the underlying human-caused global warming trend gets a temporary boost from an El Niño’s enhanced warming in the tropical Pacific. So it’s been a surprise to climate scientists that 2017 has been so remarkably warm — because the last El Niño ended a year ago. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported Tuesday that the first half of 2017 was the second-warmest January-June on record for Earth, topped only by 2016, which was boosted by one of the biggest El Niños on record. “As if it wasn’t shocking enough to see three consecutive record-breaking years, in 2014, 2015, and 2016, for the first time on record,” leading climatol...