The last five years were the hottest ever, NASA and NOAA declare

The planet is warming up, and there’s no sign of stopping.

By Alejandra Borunda

PUBLISHED February 6, 2019

It’s official: 2018 was the fourth warmest year ever recorded, scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA say in their annual report, published Wednesday.

Global air temperatures have warmed steadily over past decades, shifting up and down slightly from year to year depending on natural climate oscillations like El Niño, but following a consistent upward path. The last five years—from 2014 to 2018—are the warmest years ever recorded in the 139 years that NOAA has tracked global heat. Land temperatures, they said, were more than two degrees Fahrenheit warmer than the 20^th century average.