The Past 12 Months Were the Warmest Ever Recorded Data released
yesterday shows that the last 12 months were the hottest ever
recorded in the United States. In Texas, the droughts were so
bad that some towns ran out of water. Wildfires burned millions
of acres of dried-out land. In the Northeast, winter never
really came. February felt like spring. Some of this warm
weather can be traced to a weather pattern called La Niña. And
most climate scientists are still reluctant to blame climate
change for causing any particular weather event. But consider
the context: This is the 326th month in a row that temperatures
across the nation have been above average. The last time a
month's temperatures fell below global averages was February
1985. Averages are tricky, of course. They don’t reflect our
day-to-day experiences of basking in the sun, shivering in the
wind, or staring at the window at freak snow storms. And these
experiences—our decisions about how many layers to wear and
whether to bike or take the bus to wor