"After three consecutive years of record-setting global temperatures, 2017 turned out not to be a fourth record. That was expected, but global temperature data for last year — which government scientists made public on Thursday — showed that Earth’s long-term warming trend is continuing unabated.

NASA researchers said that 2017 was the second-warmest year on record, behind 2016 but topping 2014 and 2015. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which uses a different method to analyze temperature data, said that 2017 was the third-warmest, behind 2016 and 2015. Both data sets are in line with the overall trend that the Earth’s climate is warming because of human-caused climate change.

There’s something even more startling in the data. The heat that dogged 2015 and 2016 was exacerbated by El Niño, the Pacific climate pattern linked with higher-than-average temperatures. NOAA declared the return of El Niño in March 2015, and it ran through May 2016. But 2017 did not have El Niño turning up the thermostat. NASA’s data shows that 2017 was the warmest year on record without El Niño."

Kendra Pierre-Louis reports for the New York Times January 18, 2018. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"2017 Was One of the Hottest Years on Record. And That Was Without El Niño." (New York Times) [3]

"The Planet Just Had Its Hottest 4 Years In Recorded History. Trump Is Dismantling Efforts To Fight Climate Change." (Washington Post) [4]