‘Dead heat’: 2020 tied for warmest year on record, NASA finds

When it comes to the Earth’s global surface temperature, 2020 came in hot — tying 2016 as the warmest year on record, according to a climate analysis published Thursday by NASA and the United States’ National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The Earth’s average temperature was 1.02 degrees Celsius (1.84 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than the baseline 1951-1980 mean, the agencies’ report () found. 2020 edged 2016 out by a small amount that was within the margin of error, effectively making it a tie. More significantly than a record-breakingly warm year, however, is the fact that the global temperature spike in 2020 is consistent with an upward trend that has been observed for...