Every year, Meteorology Instructor (and Science Assistant Dean) Kent Short writes a short annual summary of what the data tells us about climate change. Attached is his January 2017 update.
Global Warming Update
January 2017
For the third consecutive year, the annual mean global land and ocean surface air temperatures in 2016 set a new record for warmth. Eight consecutive global monthly high temperature records were set from January through August, with the remaining months ranking among their five warmest on record. Annually, the five warmest years on record have all occurred since 2010, and all 16 years of the 21st century rank among the warmest 17 on record (1998 was the other one). Record daily high temperatures around the globe outpaced record lows by almost 6 to 1, which is the highest ratio in 95 years of record keeping. For the lower 48 contiguous United States, 2015 was the second warmest on record (2012 was first). The U.S. experienced 15 weather and climate disasters with losses exceeding $1 billion, which is only one less than the record 16 set in 2011.
The Arctic Ocean sea ice coverage after the summer melt season in 2016 was by far the lowest on record, and that trend is continuing into the 2016-2017 winter. Meanwhile, sea ice coverage around Antarctica has also been running below normal (heading into the Antarctic summer), and at the time of this writing, a large chunk of the Larson-C ice shelf (roughly the size of Delaware) is cracking and in jeopardy of breaking away from the continent.
Last Updated February 3, 2017