Two things strike me about that quote.<p>First, the range starts in 1880, which is just about the end of the Little Ice Age.[1] So yeah, pretty much every year since then is likely to be warmer than the last one. For a fairer comparison, you&#x27;d have to go back to 1100 or so to the Medieval Warm Period. We&#x27;re still warmer today than back then, but not by as much.<p>The second thing that struck me was the same thing that struck you: a single number is meaningless. If the fluctuations were completely random, you&#x27;d still always have a &#x27;highest&#x27; one, but it wouldn&#x27;t mean anything. And since we&#x27;re trending upwards anyway (still coming out of that cool period, which only ended 100 or so years ago) you&#x27;d expect new highs to occur fairly often and fairly recently.<p>I don&#x27;t think this particular record says much; at most it fits with the fairly obvious warming trend we&#x27;re in. If it was the <i>coldest</i> November since 1880, that&#x27;d be news because it would be a really odd occurrence.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Little_Ice_Age" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Little_Ice_Age</a>