It’s official: 2017 was one of the hottest years on record
Last year was either the second- or the third-warmest year on record, depending on whether you ask NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies or the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
2017 was the second-hottest year, behind only 2016, according to NASA, which pegs the world’s average temperatures at 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.90 degrees Celsius) warmer than the 1951 to 1980 mean. But according to NOAA, 2017 was the third warmest on record, behind 2016 and 2015. The two government agencies ranked 2017 differently because they use slightly different methods to calculate world temperatures.
Despite the difference, the long-term warming trends are very clear, Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies,…
