Scientists say there's a 97% chance that 2015 will be hottest year on record

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said last week that there is a 97 percent likelihood that 2015 will be the hottest year on record, eclipsing the record year from 2014, reports The Guardian. NOAA scientists "said man-made global warming and the El Niño climate phenomenon were the cause."

August marked the sixth month this year—along with February, March, May, June and July—that the monthly temperature record was broken, reports NOAA. The year-to-date temperature across global land and ocean surfaces, the year-to-date globally-averaged land surface temperature and the year-to-date globally-averaged sea surface temperatures from January to August are all the highest since records began being kept in 1880. (NOAA graphic)