Climate experts are keeping their eyes on the tropical Pacific, watching a strip of cool water that may be one indicator that La Niña is brewing.
A checkerboard of drought conditions has developed across the United States east of the Rockies between spring and summer 2016. Since March, the total drought-affected area of the country has nearly doubled.
Globally, 2015 set a new record for the most extremely warm days in the 66-year record (1.8 times more than the average). The number of extremely warm days and nights was the highest ever recorded in western North America, parts of central Europe, and central Asia.
In the 2015 edition of the State of the Climate report, climate and biology experts wrote about some dramatic impacts of warming on life in the ocean.
2015 was a tough year for vegetation, both natural and agricultural, with a near-record area of global land surfaces in some state of drought.
