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troutman · 03-14-2016, 10:47 AM

February 2016: Hotter Than Ever

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astro...uary_2016.html

And here we are again. February 2016 was the hottest February on the planet on record, a staggering 1.35° C hotter than the average. The previous hottest Februaries were 1998 (0.88° above average) and 2015 (0.87°). That’s a huge jump.

Those numbers are from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, one of the premier centers for keeping tabs on our ever-warming globe. They are from temperature measurements over land and ocean going back to 1880. They represent temperature anomalies, that is, deviations from an average. In this case, the average is taken over the range of 1951–1980. That makes comparing temperatures easier, and shows that February 2016 was the hottest recorded February for 136 years.

These numbers average over the whole planet. But when you map the temperatures by region, you see the Arctic has been suffering an incredible heat wave, with monthly average temperatures as much as 16° C above average. Sixteen!

There’s a huge jump in monthly temperatures starting last year, stomping previous records. October 2015 was the hottest October on record. November 2015 was the hottest November on record. December, January, and now February, all records, and by a wide margin.

03-14-2016, 10:47 AM	#497
troutman Unfrozen Caveman Lawyer Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Crowsnest Pass Exp:	February 2016: Hotter Than Ever http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astro...uary_2016.html And here we are again. February 2016 was the hottest February on the planet on record, a staggering 1.35° C hotter than the average. The previous hottest Februaries were 1998 (0.88° above average) and 2015 (0.87°). That’s a huge jump. Those numbers are from NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, one of the premier centers for keeping tabs on our ever-warming globe. They are from temperature measurements over land and ocean going back to 1880. They represent temperature anomalies, that is, deviations from an average. In this case, the average is taken over the range of 1951–1980. That makes comparing temperatures easier, and shows that February 2016 was the hottest recorded February for 136 years. These numbers average over the whole planet. But when you map the temperatures by region, you see the Arctic has been suffering an incredible heat wave, with monthly average temperatures as much as 16° C above average. Sixteen! There’s a huge jump in monthly temperatures starting last year, stomping previous records. October 2015 was the hottest October on record. November 2015 was the hottest November on record. December, January, and now February, all records, and by a wide margin.