Post date: Nov 19, 2015 3:59:36 AM

Record-crushing October was warmest on record

By Jason Samenow

THE WASHINGTON POST NEWS SERVICE

NOVEMBER 18, 2015

It was Earth’s warmest October ever recorded and it wasn’t even close. The record-shattering month was right in step with most of the preceding months in 2015 — which is positioned to easily rank as the warmest year on record. New data from the Japan Meteorological Agency and NASA show this October was about 0.33 degrees warmer than October 2014. The planet’s temperature departure from the long-term average in October is the greatest of any month ever recorded by NASA. In August, the Earth’s average temperature was running so far ahead of 2014, the previous warmest year, that NOAA said there was 97 percent chance 2015 would surpass it. Then, the planet recorded its warmest September ever record by an unprecedented margin. Earlier this month, Britain’s weather service, the Met Office, and NASA both stated the Earth’s average temperature is likely to rise 1 degree Celsius above preindustrial levels for the first time by the end of this year. This milestone is significant since it marks the halfway point to 2 degrees Celsius, the internationally accepted limit for avoiding the worst consequences of climate change.