Did Earth Just Score Its Hottest Year on Record?

If at times it felt like hell on Earth in the past year, your feeling wasn’t just imagined. NOAA scientists are ranking 2020 as the second-hottest year on record for the planet — just barely behind 2016.

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The average land and ocean surface temperature across the globe in 2020 was 1.76°F above average — just 0.04 of a degree cooler than the 2016 record, according to NOAA data. The Northern Hemisphere, however, saw its hottest year on record at 2.30°F above the 20th-century average.

The record-setting heat shouldn’t be a surprise though as the year saw severe weather headlines ranging from drought and raging wildfires, to an extremely-active Atlantic hurricane season that reached far past normal naming conventions into the Greek alphabet.

Scroll through the photo slideshow above for some wild weather moments of 2020

But, did 2020 really lose out by such a close margin? Researchers from NASA and U.K.-based Copernicus have 2020 and 2016 in a dead heat for the top spot. Ironic a recount may be in order for years in question that fall coincidentally in line with the presidential election.

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For the record, the world’s seven-hottest years have all occurred since 2014, with 10 of the warmest years occurring since 2005.

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