Planet Earth just experienced its warmest four years in moden history, with 2017 one of the hottest years ever recorded.
Exactly how hot it was last year depends on who you ask. NASA says it was the second-hottest year ever reported, while the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says it was the third-warmest ever, reports The Washington Post.
Neither are good news, and both provide more evidence to support climate change and are especially concerning given the Trump Administration’s recent decisions to open up more areas for oil drilling and roll back regulations that were attempting to curb global warming.
The difference between NASA and the NOAA’s temperature readings is due to how each collect their data, but by both’s standards, the past four years mark the hottest in their 138-year archives.
Before this year, the years 2014-2016 each set new all-time temperature records, reaching a high in 2016.
2017 is the hottest year that was not influenced by the periodic El Niño phenomenon. El Niño was present in both 2015 and 2016, which means that 2017 is the hottest on record without any outside influences inflating the temp.
Even more bad news: A researcher that tracks climate change at UC Berkeley commenting on the news says that its unlikely we’ll see temperatures as cool as they were in 2014 ever again.
