SCI-TECH

Record-setting November keeps 2015 on track for warmest year

Malcolm Ritter The Associated Press
Published Friday, December 18, 2015 7:52AM EST

Alberto plays with his two Jack Russel dogs and enjoys the sunshine on an unusually warm day on the shore of tLake Geneva in Lutry Beach near Lausanne, southwestern Switzerland, Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2015, as record-breaking temperatures for the month of November hit Switzerland. (Laurent Gillieron / Keystone via AP)

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NEW YORK -- Last month was the globe's warmest November on record, the seventh consecutive month to reach a new high.

A climate update Thursday from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also noted a record-warm average temperature for January through November as a whole. NOAA scientist Jake Crouch said it's "virtually certain" that 2015 will be the warmest year globally since record-keeping began in 1880.

The agency also said it's been the warmest autumn on record for the continental U.S., with an average temperature of 13.8 C for September through November.

Crouch said the warmth has come from climate change, a strong El Nino and some other short-term influences.

The forecast through March calls for an easing of drought in California and Nevada.