1 January 2016

December 2015 Re-writes The Record Books. So Does the Entire Year.

Posted by Dan Satterfield

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From NOAA. When you warm the climate by a degree, you still get cold days but you get a lot more hot records, and far fewer cold records.

December 2015 is in the record books and it was not just the warmest December on record for much of the Eastern Seaboard, it broke the old records by an amount that’s best described as incredible. This is what happens when you combine the strongest El Nino event on record, with the hottest year on record globally, along with the hottest oceans on record as well. Dr. Michael Mann at Penn State University was interviewed on the Voice of America today and he puts it all into a very concise perspective.

Dr. Mann was also on MSNBC today: (Click image to view)

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Here is a collection of graphics that illustrate what Dr. Mann talked about:

NOAA NCDC image. Notic eho wmany more warm records vs. cold records there are. See the image at the top of this post to understand why.

NOAA NCDC image. Notice how many more warm records vs. cold records there are. See the image at the top of this post to understand why.

The are from NOAA/NWS and NOAA Climate.

These are from NOAA/NWS and NOAA Climate.

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The hottest years on record. Notice how 2015 is not just a record but by a large margin.

The hottest years on record. Notice how 2015 is not just a record but by a large margin.

The December global data is not out yet, but the chart from the NCDC below shows the hottest months globally on record.

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The floods along the Mississippi are the result of El Nino most certainly, but it’s more than that. The oceans worldwide are record warm, and so is the air temperature. For every degree the air warms, it can hold about 7% MORE water vapor. So in short, El Nino has brought record warmth and rain, but climate change almost certainly made it worse.

Now comes 2016…