There are two ways to judge 2017, and both say it was hot, reports the Guardian. According to NASA data, 2017 was the second-hottest year on record, or the hottest year without an El Niño weather pattern, which drives up temperatures in the short term.
“In fact, 2017 was the hottest year without an El Niño by a wide margin — a whopping 0.17 [degree] C hotter than 2014, which previously held that record. Remarkably, 2017 was also hotter than 2015, which at the time was by far the hottest year on record thanks in part to a strong El Niño event that year,” said the Guardian.
Since the mid-1960s, the global surface temperature has risen by 0.17 to 0.18 degree per decade, “which is consistent with climate model predictions.” The Guardian also said climate change was a factor in the record rainfall during Hurricane Harvey and the hot summer that preceded California’s catastrophic wildfire season.