Environment
2016 Set to Beat All Other Years for Record Warmth
In the northern latitudes, temperatures have been more than 12 degrees above average.
Among the many extraordinary things about Donald Trump could be his science-spurning election in the hottest year in known history.
The World Meteorological Organization, the U.N.’s climate and weather body, announced on Monday that it’s “very likely” 2016 will beat 2015 for record global heat. Things have been toasty almost all over, but especially in the fast-melting northern latitudes: In parts of Russia the mercury has been more than 12 degrees Fahrenheit above average, while Canada has seen abnormal high temperatures of more than 5 degrees above average. “We are used to measuring temperature records in fractions of a degree,” says the WMO’s Secretary-General Petteri Taalas, “and so this is different.”