With August in the Books, 2020 Remains Likely to Be the Warmest Year on Record

But a just declared La Niña — which tends to cool things off a bit — could make it a "toss-up."

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By Tom Yulsman
Sep 14, 2020 7:00 PMSep 17, 2020 3:36 PM
Global Temperature Anomalies in August of 2020 - NASA
Temperatures departed from the long-term average around the globe during August, according to the latest monthly analysis from the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. (Credit: NASA GISS)

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With last month coming in as one of the warmest Augusts ever observed, 2020 is still likelier than not to be the warmest year on record.

Gavin Schmidt, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, places the current odds at 63 percent, but he also says that "if La Niña develops further, it’ll be a toss-up."

La Niña is characterized by cooler than normal sea surface temperatures in the tropical Pacific, which tend to depress global average temperatures.

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