The hottest 12-month stretch in recorded history | Climate Central Report

The past 12 months were hot — by the data, and by lived human experience around the world.

More heat translates to more heat waves, the deadliest of weather-related hazards. Their rising global frequency and intensity is consistent with the well-established scientific understanding of the consequences of carbon pollution — mainly from burning coal, oil, and natural gas.

Climate change attribution science uses observations, computer models, and statistical methods to quantify whether and to what extent human-caused climate change altered the likelihood of specific weather events. Climate Central’s daily attribution system, the Climate Shift Index, or CSI, applies the latest peer-reviewed methodology to map the influence of human-caused climate change on daily local temperatures and multi-day extreme heat events across the globe.