January makes eight months in a row that average air temperatures, across both the continents and the seas, have topped all prior records for the time of year. All in all, 2023 was Earth's hottest year in over a century and a half.
The principal driver of all this warmth is no mystery to scientists: The burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and other human activities have driven the mercury steadily upward for more than a century. The current El Nino weather cycle is also allowing more ocean heat to be released into the atmosphere.
[
add
]
[
|
|
...
]