Publication Date October 22, 2015 | Sydney Morning Herald

The graphic that shows why 2015 global temperatures are off the charts

The intensifying El Nino has helped drive global temperatures to yet another record monthly high. Photo: Leigh Henningham  Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/the-graphic-that-shows-why-2015-global-temperatures-are-off-the-charts-20151021-gkf8b0.html#ixzz3xi9iAkYB  Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook
The intensifying El Nino has helped drive global temperatures to yet another record monthly high. Photo: Leigh Henningham Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/environment/climate-change/the-graphic-that-shows-why-2015-global-temperatures-are-off-the-charts-20151021-gkf8b0.html#ixzz3xi9iAkYB Follow us: @smh on Twitter | sydneymorningherald on Facebook

For years, climate change sceptics relied on a spike in global temperatures that occurred during the monster 1997-98 El Nino to say the world had stopped warming...Never mind that US government scientists found the hiatus was an illusion because the oceans had absorbed most of the extra heat that satellites could tell the Earth was trapping. Nor that 2005, 2010 and 2014 all set subsequent records for annual heat...But it is 2015, which is packing an El Nino that is on track to match the record 1997-98, that looks set to blow away previous years of abnormal warmth.