We must make the most of NOAA and other American institutions providing this kind of information
Three years of record breaking temperatures
How unusual is 2016’s record-temperature three-peat, and will the hot streak continue in 2017?
Looking back on Earth’s global temperature over the past three years…2014: record warm—wow! 2015: record warm—wow!! 2016: record warm—holy cow!!!
In 2016, the annual global temperature reached a record high for the third year in a row, a remarkable occurrence rarely seen in the 137-year NOAA record and one not seen since the streak of record warmth (at the time) of 1939, 1940, and 1941.
Each year’s global surface temperature compared to the twentieth-century average from 1880-2016. The three hottest years on record (2014–16) are colored red. The last record-warm “three-peat” was the period from 1939–41. Due to global warming, those years don’t even rank in the top 30 warmest on record. Graph by NOAA Climate.gov, based on data from NCEI’s Climate at a Glance.
Those years, which ranked as third warmest, second warmest, and warmest, respectively, in 1941, now rank as 64th, 50th, and 38th warmest today. But back to the current streak…how did this happen?