CNM Extra: Heat

The first quarter of the 21st century is almost over, and I decided to dive into the fact that some of the hottest years in our history have occurred already in this century.

We have been keeping track of global temperatures since 1850, and the last 25 years have been among the hottest of the 175 years we've been keeping track.

As you probably know, 2024 broke the record for being the hottest year on record, which by itself, you may think might just be a fluctuation, nothing major. Until you see that it broke 2023's record. And the record 2023 broke was set just three years earlier in 2020.

The 6 hottest years ever recorded have all occurred since 2018. 2019 - 2024 are all of the top 6 hottest years recorded in human history.

NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) gives 2025 over a 99% chance of ranking among the 5 hottest years ever recorded.

On a different note, I do not aim to make this an article void of hope. It is just a important reminder that we have never seen anything like what we are doing to our world right now, and this is why we need new solutions, because nobody has ever had to make a solution to a problem like this. This is a unique time to be alive, and if we make it through this, it will go down in history like one of the biggest things to ever happen to our species, like the great depression. And we will have lived through it.