2017 Among Warmest Years On Record (npr.org)

2017 was among the warmest years on record, according to new data released by NASA and the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration. From a report: The planet's global surface temperature last year was second warmest since 1880, NASA says. NOAA calls it the third warmest year on record, due to slight variation in the ways that they analyze temperatures. Both put 2017 behind 2016's record temperatures. And "both analyses show that the five warmest years on record have all taken place since 2010," NASA said in a press release. The trend is seen most dramatically in the Arctic, NASA says, as sea ice continues to melt.

Comments

Re:And new Nature study

[tbannist]

Meanwhile, The Guardian is reporting a Nature study that states that the most dire predictions of global warming are unlikely.

Being, the prediction that the Earth will warm 4-5 degrees C by 2100 is not credible.

You forgot the other part of the story, which is that predictions that the earth is going to warm by less than 2 degrees C are also "not credible", according to this particular study. This study indicates the most likely climate sensitivity value is approximately 2.8 C which is slightly lower that the AR4 most likely estimate of 3.0 C. This is a bit of good news - bad news, because it rules out some the worst and some of the best case scenarios. Overall, it's slightly positive because a slightly lower sensitivity value means we have slightly more flexibility to deal with global warming.

In case anyone is wondering what climate sensitivity is, it's how much warming results from a doubling of CO2 in the atmosphere.