Sizzling Start to 2016

Data released yesterday by the National Centers for Environmental Information shows that 2016 got off to a sizzling start, with global temperature anomalies for January through March blowing away anything previously seen in the instrumented record.

In terms of raw numbers January through March of 2016 was 2.1ºF warmer than the 20th century average and a whopping 0.5ºF warmer than the same period in 2015.

With El Nino weakening and the and an increasing chance of La Nina developing later this calendar year, I have been wondering if 2016 would be warmer than 2015, but the numbers for January through March are so far off the scale that it's looking likely 2016 will set another new record.

We've climbed another step on the global warming staircase.