2015 was the hottest year ever recorded on Planet Earth, and though it's hard to remember what heat is like when the skin on your ears has turned black from the outside, scientists say this warming pattern is Not Good.
NASA and NOAA announced the record global temperature today, noting that 10 out of 12 months this year were the warmest the world's seen since scientists started keeping track in 1880. The average temperature was more than 20 percent higher than the last highest average temperature. And December was crushingly warm, earning the dubious distinction of being the first month ever to climb 2 degrees Fahrenheit above normal globe-wide.
2015's hottest year status is frightening, but what's even more frightening is that it's becoming increasingly obvious that this is a trend. In fact, 2015 unseats 2014 as the hottest year on the planet—previously, 2010 and 2005 were awarded those distinctions, and the ten hottest years in recorded history have all occurred since 1997. "“Is there any evidence for a pause in the long-term global warming rate?” Gavin A. Schmidt, head of NASA’s climate-science unit, told the Times. “The answer is no. That was true before last year, but it’s much more obvious now.” Don't worry, deniers, God will save you!
On a more local scale, 2015 was the second hottest recorded year in the continental United States, topped only by 2014. In other news, today is Penguin Awareness Day, so be sure to wave to one before it dies.
