CLEVELAND — We’re in the middle of a stretch of hot weather here in Northeast Ohio, and it's got people sweating on social media.
We’re seeing lots of posts talking about how it seems hotter outside lately than it has in the recent past.
THE QUESTION
So let's VERIFY: Are summers getting hotter?
SOURCES
To bring you the facts, we checked with:
- The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
- NASA
- The State Climate Office of Ohio, based out of The Ohio State University
EXPLANATION
The EPA has a website dedicated to climate change indicators with key points spelled out about seasonal temperature.
They say that average global temperatures are increasing throughout the year and summer temperatures specifically have gone up by about 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit since 1896.
As for NASA, their official site tells us that earth is warming at an unprecedented rate, and that human activity is the principal cause. They say this warming rate is faster than the world has seen in the past 10,000 years, and that "most of the warming occurred in the past forty years, with the seven most recent years being the warmest."
In fact, in June, NASA published an article confirming a straight year of monthly temperature records. NASA Chief Scientist and Senior Climate Advisor Kate Ca'vin told us,"We're experiencing more hot days, more hot months, more hot years. We know that these increases in temperature are driven by our greenhouse gas emissions and are impacting people and ecosystems around the world."
When we check with the State Climate Office of Ohio, we see that their latest data shows we've just had the ninth-warmest May in Ohio history, and that we're in the middle of the warmest year to date for the entire globe.
ANSWER
So we can VERIFY that yes, summers are getting hotter.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
The EPA says heat waves are more intense, they're happening more often, and they're lasting longer than they used to, as recently as the 1960s.
If you come across something that you're unsure about being true or false, you can send it to us to VERIFY by emailing us at verify@wkyc.com, or texting us at (216) 344-3300.