The globe is heating up according to experts at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and 2019 could end up being a record setting year.
NOAA recently held its monthly U.S., global climate call recapping the past year and providing forecast predictions through March.
Karin Gleason, a climatologist for the administration provided an analysis of the temperatures across the globe and in the United States.
“It’s virtually certain that 2019 will end among the five warmest years on record and we’ve put a 95% confidence interval around a second to third warmest year on record with a higher likelihood of it being second warmest year after December concludes,” said Gleason.
The global temperature records date back to 1880 and Delaware’s temperature percentile for January to November was “much above average,” only 4 percentile points away from a record warmest. Precipitation levels were below average.
Meteorologist Brad Pugh predicts that in the next three months, there is a 40-50% chance that temperatures across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic will be lower than averag.
“It is important to remember that we do expect variable temperature patterns during this three month time period with episodic cold events during the winter season,” said Pugh.
Pugh adds there's a 40-50% chance that the precipitation will be more than normal in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic over the next 3 months.