2020 was the hottest year on record. We'll remember it as one of the century's coldest.

[marmar]

(Grist) On Thursday, 2020 officially took its place in the upper echelon of warmest years in human history: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration ranked last year as the hottest year to date, ahead of 2016 by just a hair. Two other global temperature tracking organizations, the U.K.’s Met Office and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said 2020 was the second-hottest year on record, closely tailing 2016. Meanwhile, the European Union’s climate change agency declared a tie between the two years.

To say that this news was unsurprising would be a massive understatement. For 44 years in a row now, the globe has been hotter than the 20th century average. The world’s hottest seven years on record have all taken place since 2014, the 10 warmest years have occurred in the past decade and a half.

Each year, these monumental milestones seize the spotlight for a moment or two and then quickly fade away.

Tired of this cycle, Andrew Dessler, a professor in the geosciences department at Texas A&M University, has created a template auto-response for the requests he receives from journalists to comment on these records each year. “Thank you for emailing me asking for comment about 20__ being one of the hottest years on record,” it reads. “Here is a comment you can use for your story: ‘Every year for the rest of your life will be one of the hottest in the record. This means that 20__ will end up being among the coolest years of this century. Enjoy it while it lasts.’” ...........(more)

https://grist.org/climate/2020-was-the-hottest-year-on-record-well-remember-it-as-one-of-the-centurys-coldest/