The Earth's average temperature in 1998 was the warmest since trustworthy measurements first were made 119 years ago, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported Monday.
The planet's average surface temperature was 58.1 degrees, 1.2 degrees higher than recent years' average.
The news confirmed what had seemed likely for months. Last year, the White House held almost monthly news conferences to let a sweaty nation know that it had been the warmest January, the hottest June, the steamiest July and so forth.
Even before the year ended, the World Meteorological Organization was calling 1998 the hottest year since 1860. Both the U.S. agency and the international group noted that 1998 was the 20th straight year to be warmer than the long-term average.
However, this does not mean each year will continue to get warmer, scientists say.
Part of the warmth of 1998 was because of one of the strongest El Ninos that the 20th century has ever seen. El Nino, a pool of warm ocean water off the coast of Latin America, affects climate worldwide.
But some scientists view the heat of 1998 as an indication of global warming caused by greenhouse gas emissions, which are released by factories and cars. Many scientists say the gases are building up and trapping heat in the Earth's atmophere.
"El Nino was certainly a contributor," says Tom Karl, senior scientist at NOAA's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. ". . . The only explanation consistent with the data is an increase in greenhouse gases."
That view, though, is not undisputed. Some scientists say human-caused global warming is not likely to happen at all.
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