January 2016 Holds New 'Warmest Month' Record

To absolutely no one's surprise, this past January is now the hottest of its kind on record, smashing the last hottest month record in what is a longstanding and unfortunate environmental trend. The record, which has been confirmed by NASA, hints that 2016 may end up smashing 2015's own record (it is the warmest year ever recorded). For its part, January 2016 was more than 2F degrees hotter than average.

According to NASA, January 2016 holds the distinction of being the hottest January on record, and is also the most anomalous month (in terms of warmth) ever recorded (that is to say, in the past 135 years).

Likewise, January continued a long string of record-breaking months. December before it held the same designation, as did a few preceding months. The past four months have seen global temperatures a centigrade higher than average. As the image above shows, northern regions had an especially warm January. In what is a particularly startling number, some Arctic regions saw temps climb 23F warmer than the monthly average — something that can't be blamed on the El Nino event.

Earlier this month, NOAA released its own State of the Climate report, which included details about El Nino's effect on the nation and more. The report showed mixed news, with some being good — many droughts across the U.S. are decreasing, particularly in the Rockies — and others being bad, such as frigid temperatures in the northeast and severe storms in the west.

According to that report, many states had their warmest "January" ever or temperatures that set Top 10 records. Ohio had its ninth driest January ever, for example, and Alaska has its fifth warmest (recorded) start of the year. California is still under an "exceptional drought," unfortunately, though it was lessened thanks to the El Nino storms. Speaking of El Nino specifically, it isn't expected that a 'neutral' state will return until mid-to-late summer this year, something partly dependent on whether a second warm spell pushes through.

VIA: Climate Central

SOURCE: NASA