2016 Was Second Hottest Year For US In More Than 120 Years of Record Keeping (climatecentral.org)

Last year was the second hottest year for the United States in more than 120 years of record keeping, according to the National Climatic Data Center, marking 20 above-average years in a row. While Georgia and Alaska recorded their hottest year, every state had a temperature ranking at least in the top seven. Climate Central reports: The announcement comes a week before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which released the U.S. data, and NASA are expected to announce that 2016 set the record for the hottest year globally. Both the global record and the U.S. near-record are largely attributable to greenhouse gas-driven warming of the planet. In addition to the pervasive warmth over the last year, the U.S. also had to deal with 15 weather and climate disasters that each caused more than $1 billion in damage. Together, they totaled more than $46 billion in losses and included several disastrous rain-driven flooding events. These events, along with continued drought, lay bare the challenge for the country to learn how to cope with and prepare for a changing climate, said Deke Arndt, the climate monitoring chief of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. The temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 2.9 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average for 2016, displacing 2015 and ranking only behind 2012, when searing heat waves hit the middle of the country. More notable than the back-to-back second place years, Arndt said, was that 2016 was the 20th consecutive warmer-than-normal year for the U.S. and that the five hottest years for the country have all happened since 1998. Those streaks mirror global trends, with 15 of the 16 hottest years on record occurring in the 21st century and no record cold year globally since 1911.

Comments

Your entire lifestyle depends on oil

[Anonymous Coward]

Your electric car? Yeah it runs on electricity, that comes from coal. The tires come from oil. The plastics are petroleum based. And on.. And on.. And on.. There is no substitute for oil, only replacements in niche areas.

I am still waiting for the day when the "majority" cares so much about the environment that they will actually give up their oil lifestyle. If all of you climate change cry babies did that, then we'd get the reductions in green house gases you want. Stop driving to work, stop shopping at Wal Mart, stop going to the grocery store for the organically grown bananas that were shipped from South America. OIL MAKES YOUR LIFESTYLE POSSIBLE you hypocrites! If all you cry babies actually did what you say it wouldn't matter what the climate change "deniers" said or did huh? Because you all the majority, right? We'd get those reductions all on YOUR behavior alone.

Fact is you are all full of crap and won't give up your oil lifestyle so just shut up!