Last year was not the hottest year on record, breaking the three-year consecutive streak of the hottest year on record. However, climate change skeptics should not celebrate. As the third hottest year on record, 2017 marks a significant occurrence – it is the hottest year on record without an El Niño episode.

El Niño is a cyclical climate event characterized by warmer than average water temperatures in the Pacific Ocean. Its conditions influence weather patterns in the United States by increasing rainfall in the south and exacerbating droughts in the West. With the presence of El Niño, 2016 marked the hottest year on record. In its absence, temperatures were thought to cool down. Increased temperatures in past years that were the warmest on record were often attributed to El Niño conditions, however, 2017, which did not have an El Niño episode, proves that temperatures are rising and that the global climate is truly changing.

Since record-keeping of annual average temperatures began in 1880, the eight hottest years recorded were within the last decade. Within the last year, impacts of climate change were felt across the global. In the U.S., climate change has been linked to intensified hurricanes, increased precipitation causing flooding, and exacerbated dryness augmenting wildfires. In light of past trends and increasing annual temperature anomalies, it won’t be a surprise if 2018 breaks another record.