According to NASA and the NOAA, worldwide, 2016 was the hottest year on record. This record beats the record that was set in 2015. Even more, 2015 was the record before this, making it clear that Earth is getting hotter and hotter each year. Eleven out of twelve of the warmest years on record have happened after 2000. The impact of this increasing temperature around the world can be seen majorly in the Arctic, especially with the ice caps. If you don’t feel much about the warm weather it is because you were born after 1979, the last year of ‘normal temperatures’ .

El Niño played a big factor in 2016 being the hottest year on record, but even without El Niño, the temperatures globally are going to remain high. El Niño is an irregularly occurring climate change that affects primarily the equatorial Pacific region. This causes higher temperatures that can affect the whole world. In 2016, the temperature was almost 2 degrees higher than the average temperature for the 20th century. Ever since the NOAA started to keep records on the Earth’s temperature since 1879, they found that 2016 was the hottest one they have ever recorded, minor improvements are happening though. For 2017, NASA predicts it will be cooler than 2016 but not by much. Even if it is cooler, it will be one of the top five hottest years, meaning more needs to be done.