Experts warn 2024 could be hottest year on record

WASHINGTON (NEXSTAR) — Climate scientists warn this year is likely to be the hottest on record, according to a briefing by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Last year, 2023, was the hottest year on record. This year has a 77% chance of surpassing that, scientists said at a NOAA briefing.

“We’re seeing hotter temperatures, longer and stronger heat waves. We’re seeing heavier rainfall events leading to flooding in some places,” said Tommy DiLiberto, a climate scientist at NOAA.

DiLiberto said the warmer temperatures are contributing to more severe storms.

This year, NOAA data said 19 storms have caused $1 billion in damage or more. Those include Hurricane Beryl, the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, hailstorms in Colorado and wildfires in New Mexico.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson agrees.

“It doesn’t take a climate scientist to understand this,” Nelson said. “All you have to do is turn on your six o’clock news and get your weather report.”

Nelson, a former astronaut, said he saw a hurricane while up in space.

“It’s a powerful, powerful thing when you observe Earth from that standpoint and see what mother nature can do,” Nelson said.

Now, he said, his agency can provide real time data on the changing climate from satellites in space.

“We have instruments on the space station that are measuring what is happening to the Earth,” Nelson said. “And the Earth is heating up.”

Nelson and DiLiberto said climate change is caused by greenhouse gases, but both stressed, people can help reverse course.

“There’s still a lot of action being done across the United States, across the world, to basically reduce our emissions of greenhouse gases,” DiLiberto said.

NOAA estimates, because of near record sea temperatures and the La Nina, the Atlantic could see eight to 13 hurricanes this year.

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