To The Surprise Of No One, NASA Predicts 2016 Will Be The Hottest Year On Record

Eleven of the past 12 months have set new high-temperature records.
A fisherman sits on his boat in a dried-up pond in drought-stricken Cambodia in May 2016. Climate change has been linked to an increase in extreme weather events, including drought, hurricanes and wildfires, worldwide.
A fisherman sits on his boat in a dried-up pond in drought-stricken Cambodia in May 2016. Climate change has been linked to an increase in extreme weather events, including drought, hurricanes and wildfires, worldwide.
Pring Samrang/Reuters

Following the news of yet another “warmest month ever,” NASA has basically called it: This year will be the hottest since record-keeping began in 1880.

Last month was the warmest September ever recorded, narrowly beating the previous 2014 record by 0.004 degrees Celsius, according to NASA.

September’s global average surface temperature was about 0.91 degrees Celsius above average, NASA said. Eleven of the past 12 months have set new high-temperature records, it added.

Responding to the news, Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, issued a dire prediction:

If Schmidt is right, 2016 will be the third year in a row to boast the ignominious title of hottest year in recorded history.

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