NASA released the new data on Friday, showing that March was 2.02°F (1.12°C) warmer than the 1951-1980 average, ranking behind only March 2016, which was 2.29°F (1.27°C) above that same average. NASA’s global temperature records go back 137 years, according to Climate Central.
March 2017 was only the eighth month in NASA’s database to have a temperature anomaly at or above 1-degree Celsius, or 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit. Why is this important to us? Mashable explains that the Paris Climate deal proposed that nations work to limit global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit.
We are getting perilously close to the edge
It’s time we all look at the full picture of what the temperature march means. It the month of March is an indication and adding the real possibility of another El Nino forming this year, the warming trend will continue.
And like the El Nino the world recently experienced, it is possible that 2017 could end up being warmer than 2016. Keep in mind that 2016 turned out to be the hottest year on record, ever. NASA and NOAA have both said that anthropogenic global warming was causing the majority of our annual temperature increases.
According to the UK’s Met Office, while 2017 is on track to set records, temperatures aren’t expected to top 2016’s record-breaking heat. However, the Met’s projections show that 2017 will still likely rank among the hottest years. Adam Scaife, head of the long-range prediction at the Met Office, said in an email last month, “We have said a number of times now that we would likely see three record years in a row and then another very warm, but perhaps not record year, in 2017, so the small number of data we have so far for 2017 also concur with that prediction.”
In related news, the global CO2 concentration level on April 13, 2017, at the Mauna Loa Observatory was 407.57 ppm. It is interesting to also note that records for the last three years in March show a continuing rise in CO2 concentration levels globally.
