# February shatters heat record world wide **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 17, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-shatters-heat-record-world-wide/749278 "2016-03-17T17:03:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-shatters-heat-record-world-wide/749278/1 "2016-03-17T17:03:40Z")
Thought I’d share [this](http://www.cnn.com/2016/03/17/weather/february-warmest-ever-month/index.html) CNN article on the current heat wave. For me, personally, this year has definitely been the hottest anyone around here can remember. Last month we were in shorts and shirt sleeves for most of the month, which is unheard of here. This week it’s going to be 60’s and 70’s all week with no break from the warming weather in sight…which seriously sucks for any allergy sufferers, as the plants obviously think it’s spring already have have started pumping out their stuff full bore like 2 months early. :eek: From the article: > [@](#): > > CNN)The month of February broke another heat record for the planet – the latest in a string of broken monthly records that bring the Earth closer to the symbolic 2 degree Celsius temperature hike predicted to spark catastrophic consequences. > > February smashed the previous record for the warmest February and even became the warmest month ever compared to average, according to NOAA, which released the data Thursday. > > February temperatures over land and ocean averaged a scorching 2.18 F/1.21 C above the 20th century average. With records going back to 1880, that makes 1,646 months of data, and February tops them all. But what’s even more remarkable is that the top three months in terms of heat are the past three, going back to December 2015, and they all top 1 C warmer than the 20th century average. > > The planet is rapidly on its way to that 2 degree mark, possibly faster than anyone imagined. In fact, average temperatures over land in February were a mind-boggling 4.16 F/2.31 C above normal, the first time the significant and symbolic 2 degree Celsius bar has been topped. > [@](#): > > What’s causing all the heat? > > El Niño is a major driver of the recent uptick in global temperatures. The cycle brings warmer ocean temperatures to large portions of the Pacific Ocean, which provide extra heat to warm the planet. So El Niño years tend to be hotter than neutral or La Niña years. But El Niño alone cannot account for all the extra heat the planet has seen recently. > > ore recent El Niño years are rapidly outpacing El Niño years of the past, and while a switch to La Niña will likely bring global temperatures down a bit, they will still probably be hotter than even past El Niños. > > Many scientists say climate change due to manmade issues is also to blame. > > “We know that atmospheric CO2 and other greenhouse gases are continuing to increase, so that’s contributing to climate change and the rising temperatures overall,” said Graven. ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-shatters-heat-record-world-wide/749278/2 "2016-03-17T17:25:58Z")
But it’s snowing in Boulder so that proves it’s all a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-shatters-heat-record-world-wide/749278/3 "2016-03-17T18:37:34Z")
El Niño is a big driver of the huge spike in global temperatures over the past five months, but not the whole story. El Niño primarily affects surface temperatures in and near the tropics, but the biggest temperature anomalies have been in the arctic circle. Anchorage (albeit 350 miles outside the arctic circle) had to have [snow delivered by train](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/07/us/as-alaska-warms-the-iditarod-adapts.html) for the beginning of the iditarod sled race. Temperatures won’t stay at this level. For perspective, 2015 was by far the hottest year in [NASA GISTEMP](http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/tabledata_v3/GLB.Ts+dSST.txt) records going back to 1880, but February’s anomaly was half a degree (Celsius) higher than that. It will take a couple of decades (I hope) before that’s the new normal. However, climate change deniers have based a lot of their rhetoric on 1998, the last big temperature spike, because that spike hadn’t been exceeded by a significant margin. Well, now it has, and the new spike shows just how much the baseline has changed over the past 18 years. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-shatters-heat-record-world-wide/749278/4 "2016-03-17T18:39:29Z")
But climate change is not reaaaaaall. Anyway, Jesus will fix it. :whines: ---
**Author:** ![Ignotus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ecc23a/32.png) [@Ignotus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignotus)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-shatters-heat-record-world-wide/749278/5 "2016-03-17T19:12:47Z")
Not the mildest winter here (middle parts of Sweden) in the last two decades or so (we’ve had a few days with temperatures below -4 F this year) but definitely nothing like the harshest either. Two years ago, the nearby lake went open on the 1st of April, something unknown of before in living memory. Ain’t gonna happen this year; but there seems to be a good chance it will make it before 1st of May, which is about average. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-shatters-heat-record-world-wide/749278/6 "2016-03-17T19:14:08Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > However, climate change deniers have based a lot of their rhetoric on 1998, the last big temperature spike, because that spike hadn’t been exceeded by a significant margin. Well, now it has, and the new spike shows just how much the baseline has changed over the past 18 years. Of course, the following regression to the mean means that we’re looking at another ‘hiatus’ coming up—‘See? There’s hardly been any temperature increase since 2015!’. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-shatters-heat-record-world-wide/749278/7 "2016-03-17T19:18:18Z")
> [@Greg\_Charles](#): > > However, climate change deniers have based a lot of their rhetoric on 1998, the last big temperature spike, because that spike hadn’t been exceeded by a significant margin. Well, now it has, and the new spike shows just how much the baseline has changed over the past 18 years. Your information is sadly out of date. The fact of the matter is that global temperature has been flat since 2015. What’s causing the stall? Was the warmist scare just a statistical anomaly? ---
**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/february-shatters-heat-record-world-wide/749278/8 "2016-03-17T20:55:38Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Your information is sadly out of date. The fact of the matter is that global temperature has been flat since 2015. What’s causing the stall? Was the warmist scare just a statistical anomaly? Yeah, that’s the cynical theory, and it may be true someday. For now, deniers are mostly arguing that this is just a temporary spike, and cooler temperatures will return soon. However, that essentially means arguing that spikes are significant (1998) and insignificant (2016) at the same time. It seem to me that many of the deniers are just staying silent for now and waiting for more favorable or at least more ambiguous data. After all, not every month or year can set a new record.