2020 expected to be Earth's warmest year on record, scientists say

Federal scientists announced Thursday that 2020 has nearly a 75% chance of being the warmest year on record for the planet Earth.

NASA says that 2020 has a near 75 per cent chance of being the warmest year on record.

Already, through the first three months of the year, it's the second-warmest on record, trailing only the El Niño fueled year of 2016, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said.

This year's warmth is "unusual," given the lack of a strong El Niño, a natural warming of tropical Pacific Ocean water that influences temperatures worldwide, according to Deke Arndt of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information. 

He said both February and March were the warmest months on record without an El Niño present. The long-term trend of ongoing heat the planet continues to see is primarily because of the emission of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels, he said. 

Even if 2020 ends up not being the warmest year, NOAA said there's a 99.9% chance that 2020 will end among the five warmest years on record.

Read the story from USA Today by Doyle Rice - “2020 expected to be Earth's warmest year on record, scientists say.”