Last year was the hottest planet Earth has experienced since humans began keeping records over a century and a half ago. Before 2015, the warmest year on record was . . . 2014. And this year is on pace to be—once again—the hottest ever. As The Guardian put it this week, “we’re living in astonishingly hot times.”
A very strong El Niño has certainly contributed to rising temperatures. But, ultimately, the unprecedented heat is happening because El Niño is occurring during increasing human-caused global warming.
To take just one example of the intense warming Earth is experiencing, the period from September 1997 to August 1998 was the hottest 12-month stretch on record at that time. It’s now in 60th place.
