Well, well... this is not a surprise. 2024 was the hottest year since temperature records began in 1850. And the second hottest year on record was 2023.
Unfortunately, this also means that we exceeded the goal of limiting temperature increases to 1.5 degrees C that was agreed to at the Paris Agreement in 2016. Remember that agreement? The goal was to keep temperature increases to no more than 1.5 degrees C over pre-industrial temperatures (as defined by the 1850 - 1900 average). But last year was 1.6 degrees C over pre-industrial levels.
It's been 48 years since the last time the world had a cooler year than average year. You can thank rising greenhouse emissions for the overall upward trend in heat.
Sooo....what will 2025 be like? Stay tuned.
Excerpts from Ars Technica: Everyone agrees: 2024 the hottest year since the thermometer was invented
Over the last 24 hours or so, the major organizations that keep track of global temperatures have released figures for 2024, and all of them agree: 2024 was the warmest year yet recorded, joining 2023 as an unusual outlier in terms of how rapidly things heated up. At least two of the organizations, the European Union's Copernicus and Berkeley Earth, place the year at about 1.6° C above pre-industrial temperatures, marking the first time that the Paris Agreement goal of limiting warming to 1.5° has been exceeded. ...continue reading "Last Year Was the Warmest Year Since Global Records Began in 1850"