Alejandra Barunda

It's kind of a symbolic number because back in the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, most countries tried to pledge to keep global warming to less than 2 C and ideally less than 1.5. And I want to be clear that being past that number for just one year, that doesn't mean those goals are breached, but it's not a good sign.

Yeah, 2023 and 2024 were both off the charts hot. Here's how climate scientist Zeke Hausfather describes some of the temperature records from 2023.

Yeah, 2023 and 2024 were both off the charts hot. Here's how climate scientist Zeke Hausfather describes some of the temperature records from 2023.

Yeah, 2023 and 2024 were both off the charts hot. Here's how climate scientist Zeke Hausfather describes some of the temperature records from 2023.

Very descriptive. And so the last two years, they were about two-tenths of a degree Celsius hotter than scientists even expected. And that might not sound like a lot, but Hausfather says it's equivalent to about a decade of global warming. And that really matters because it's important to know if this extra heat represents a permanent change to the climate or something else. And why?

Very descriptive. And so the last two years, they were about two-tenths of a degree Celsius hotter than scientists even expected. And that might not sound like a lot, but Hausfather says it's equivalent to about a decade of global warming. And that really matters because it's important to know if this extra heat represents a permanent change to the climate or something else. And why?

Very descriptive. And so the last two years, they were about two-tenths of a degree Celsius hotter than scientists even expected. And that might not sound like a lot, but Hausfather says it's equivalent to about a decade of global warming. And that really matters because it's important to know if this extra heat represents a permanent change to the climate or something else. And why?

That is definitely the question. Scientists have looked at so many things. They looked at stuff like the solar cycle. That wasn't it. They looked at dust in the air. That wasn't it either. And then there was this other idea about a volcano that erupted in 2022. And that volcano shot water vapor into the atmosphere, which could theoretically heat up the planet. But that didn't pan out either.

That is definitely the question. Scientists have looked at so many things. They looked at stuff like the solar cycle. That wasn't it. They looked at dust in the air. That wasn't it either. And then there was this other idea about a volcano that erupted in 2022. And that volcano shot water vapor into the atmosphere, which could theoretically heat up the planet. But that didn't pan out either.

That is definitely the question. Scientists have looked at so many things. They looked at stuff like the solar cycle. That wasn't it. They looked at dust in the air. That wasn't it either. And then there was this other idea about a volcano that erupted in 2022. And that volcano shot water vapor into the atmosphere, which could theoretically heat up the planet. But that didn't pan out either.

So the next idea was El Nino, which is part of this natural climate cycle. And during El Nino years, the planet is generally warmer. But when it first got unexpectedly hot, El Nino hadn't even started yet. Gavin Schmidt is a climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies.

So the next idea was El Nino, which is part of this natural climate cycle. And during El Nino years, the planet is generally warmer. But when it first got unexpectedly hot, El Nino hadn't even started yet. Gavin Schmidt is a climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies.

So the next idea was El Nino, which is part of this natural climate cycle. And during El Nino years, the planet is generally warmer. But when it first got unexpectedly hot, El Nino hadn't even started yet. Gavin Schmidt is a climate scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies.

It turns out that El Nino probably had some effect on 2024's numbers, but overall, scientists were still scratching their heads.

It turns out that El Nino probably had some effect on 2024's numbers, but overall, scientists were still scratching their heads.

It turns out that El Nino probably had some effect on 2024's numbers, but overall, scientists were still scratching their heads.

Yeah, they went to one other place, Scott. The next thing they looked at were these weird kinds of clouds.

Yeah, they went to one other place, Scott. The next thing they looked at were these weird kinds of clouds.

Yeah, they went to one other place, Scott. The next thing they looked at were these weird kinds of clouds.

That's Andrew Gettleman. He's a climate scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. Ships burn fossil fuels, and the pollution from that actually creates these cloud trails behind them that cool Earth. And in 2020, that ship fuel actually got cleaner, and that meant smaller ship track clouds and increased in turn, a hotter planet.