How did 2017 rank in terms of global temperature?

By Brett Anderson, AccuWeather senior meteorologist

1/18/2018, 12:19:05 PM

NASA GISS just released their 2017 global surface temperature anomaly data. To no surprise, 2017 ranked as the second warmest year on record globally for land/ocean surface combined. Records go back to 1880.

Change in global temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2017. Video courtesy NASA GISS and YouTube.

According to NASA GISS, 2017 averaged 0.90 of a degree Celsius or 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit above the 1951-1980 mean for global average temperature. The warmest year on record is still held by 2016 with an average departure of +0.99 of a degree Celsius. In third place is 2015 +0.86 of a degree Celsius.

--The five warmest years on record have all taken place since 2010.

--A total of 17 of the 18 warmest years on record have all occurred since 2001, according to NASA GISS.

--NASA claims that the 2017 global average temperature anomaly is accurate to 0.1 of a degree Fahrenheit and has a 95 percent certainty level.

Image courtesy NASA GISS>

Key excerpts from the NASA GISS report.

Even without the warming influence of El Nino and with the cooling influence of La Nina late last year, 2017 was still able to rank as the second warmest year on record.

In an analysis where the effects of the recent El Nino and La Nina patterns were statistically removed from the record, 2017 would have been the warmest year on record, according to NASA GISS.

The views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of AccuWeather, Inc. or AccuWeather.com

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