What's Cookin'? Earth, Basically. But It's Not El Niño's Fault

Scientists have analyzed the balmy trend, and El Niño is just part of the story, they say. Temperatures for December 2015 were especially unusual, with the highest average temperatures on land and sea surface recorded for any single month during 136 years of record keeping, according to a Jan. 20 statement by NASA and a report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Part of the explanation for the heat spike toward the year's end lies in 2015's strong El Niñ