NASA: First Half Of 2016 Was Hottest 6 Months On Record
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- The year is half over, and NASA scientists say it was the hottest six months on record.
January's blizzard may have brought winter to Maryland with a vengeance, but as notable as it was, it wasn't the norm for early 2016.
NASA researchers found the first six months of the year weren't just warmer than usual, they were also the warmest since record keeping began in 1880.
"This is really important, because if it's hot and dry then we have problems like forest fires, like drought," says Dr. Compton Tucker, of the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. "This is what really concerns us."
Hotter, drier conditions fueled not only the massive wild fire in Canada this spring, but the outbreak of small brush fires in Maryland.
Record warmth is even heating up the planet's coldest places.
"It's a big deal, especially in terms of ice on the planet," Tucker says.
Ice in the Arctic started melting earlier in the year than normal. NASA researchers in Greenland have already been charting the losses -- which they do through ground stations, aircraft and a network of satellites.
The more water is released, the more sea levels will rise, which is a very real threat for Maryland.
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