Earth on Pace For Fourth-Warmest Year on Record, NOAA and NASA Say (weather.com)

The first nine months of 2018 was the fourth-warmest such period on Earth since record-keeping began in 1880, NOAA and NASA said in their analyses this week. From a report: 2016 had the warmest January-September period, according to NOAA, followed by 2017, then 2015. NASA's analysis agreed the Earth was on pace for its fourth-warmest year. NASA climate modeler Gavin Schmidt said in a tweet that 2018 was "almost guaranteed" to be the fourth-warmest year in its period of record. Record or near-record warmth in Europe, Africa, Asia and South America helped propel the January-September 2018 period to the fourth-warmest on record, NOAA said.

With temperatures 3.35 degrees Fahrenheit (1.86 degrees Celsius) above average, Europe had its record-warmest first nine months of the year, exceeding the previous record set in 2014 by more than 0.23 degrees Fahrenheit (0.13 degrees Celsius). Records in the continent date to 1910. Breaking it down a bit further, Africa had its fifth-warmest year-to-date temperature on record, Asia its sixth-warmest and South America its eighth-warmest, according to NOAA. North America experienced its lowest January-September temperature departure from average since 2013. The only notable pocket of cooler-than-average temperatures in 2018's first nine months was over the far North Atlantic Ocean just south of Greenland.

Comments

Threshold

[duke_cheetah2003]

We've already crossed several thresholds on the climate, the damage we've done will take hundreds of years to undo, if it's undoable at all.

Humanity just better get used to a hotter world, cuz that ship sailed a long time ago. We're fucked.

Wrong.

[Gravis Zero]

This can actually be undone because we have the technology. However, it requires people to actually believe it's real, care and vote for leaders who care. There are far too many people who simply don't believe/care until it personally affects them. For proof of this, you need look no further than the newspaper.

In North Carolina, hurricanes did what scientists could not: Convince Republicans that climate change is real

How we turn this around is actually charge corporations money to pollute and use that money to clean up the pollution. We can build the machines needed to remove CO2 from the air and the solar panels need to power them but they need to be paid for. Pushing this policy globally would make it easy to undo the atmospheric damage we've already done.

Re:Wrong.

[duke_cheetah2003]

This can actually be undone because we have the technology.

I'm sorry, I do enjoy your optimism, but it's fantasy. We do not have the technology to remove the billions of tons of CO2 we've pumped into the atmosphere. We are not even slowing down on pumping ever more CO2 out. And you think we're going to be able to remove it? We can't even curtail the emissions we have now. Quite the opposite, ever since Al Gore's movie, we've done nothing. We're just making it increasingly worse. We knew about this in the late 60's early 70's. We've done nothing. What makes you so optimistic that we're suddenly going to do something? Setting aside the fact, it's waaaay too late in the game.

Green energy is fine and dandy, I'm all for it. But it's not going to do jack about the CO2 ALREADY in the atmo. Billions of tons of it. Not going to change our diesel ships and trucks. Coal is still a big deal for energy generating plants. Electric cars and such, it's a step sideways, not forward. The energy we're pumping into these electric cars is still mostly coming from dirty power generation.

Everyone is too afraid of the actual solution: Nuclear power. Fine.. be afraid, but then you have to accept the consequences of the supposedly safer coal, oil and gas plants.

Fantasy is all this is. Accept that we've triggered some unstoppable consequences and adapt. Or die.

Re:Wrong.

[Gravis Zero]

We do not have the technology to remove the billions of tons of CO2 we've pumped into the atmosphere.

Sure we do, it's just going to take a million of CO2 capture plants and several decades.

Quite the opposite, ever since Al Gore's movie, we've done nothing. We're just making it increasingly worse. We knew about this in the late 60's early 70's. We've done nothing. What makes you so optimistic that we're suddenly going to do something?

The noose is tightening and people are beginning to feel it.
“Men and nations behave wisely when they have exhausted all other resources.”

Not going to change our diesel ships and trucks. Coal is still a big deal for energy generating plants. Electric cars and such, it's a step sideways, not forward. The energy we're pumping into these electric cars is still mostly coming from dirty power generation.

Of course, there's been no incentive to even bother not polluting. When that changes, everything will change with it.

Everyone is too afraid of the actual solution: Nuclear power.

Not at all. You forget that, stars are giant nuclear reactors. U238 breeder reactors are a very expensive form of nuclear power that are a dual purpose technology. We need to invest in developing liquid fluoride thorium reactors as once developed they can be installed in nations with even the most malicious intent and not be a threat as they do not create isotopes ad infinitium.

Fantasy is all this is. Accept that we've triggered some unstoppable consequences and adapt. Or die.

Defeatism does nothing to address the issue. The only adaptation that will suffice is fixing the atmosphere.

Re:Wait...

[AlwinBarni]

So, if it is the FOURTH warmest... does that mean it is getting cooler now?

No, it doesn't. From the article: January-September period for years 2015,2016,2017 and 2018 are four the warmest since data started to be recorded (1880).
2018 was not the warmest of the four, to better understand it draw a sinusoidal line at lets say 45 degree angle, you will see the difference between long term trend and short term fluctuations.

And your problem

[presidenteloco]

is acting like you're just a helpless leaf tossed on the wind whichever way it blows.

You've got a brain and a pair of hands (assumption, I admit) so try to do something useful.

If we're all doomed in several billlion years, fine, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't make it a nice place til we all turn into entropy.