2010s ranked as warmest decade on record

PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently released the climate numbers for 2019 in the U.S.

Despite the U.S. having one of the very few spots on earth coming in below average, 2019 still wrapped up the warmest decade on record.

This is especially the case in Miami, with numerous heat records broken in 2019.

Arctic sea ice extent was at a record-low to end 2019, helping send historic highs of 90 degrees into Anchorage, Alaska.

North Carolina and Georgia had their warmest years on record, and the rest of the Southeast was not that far behind, including Florida.

The more interesting part of these recent climate numbers are the warm nights. Record-warm minimum temperatures outnumbered record-warm maximum temperatures by 34% in the 2010s.

Rising temperatures can intensify extreme weather events. NOAA reported at least 14 weather events in 2019 that cost the U.S. at least $1 billion. It’s the fifth straight year with at least 10 of them, while it has only happened four of the previous 35 years.