Weather Insider: 2024 Temperatures and La Nina
It's official... 2024 was the hottest in recorded history both here in the US and across the globe. Looking at the graphic below, we can see a sharp and intense increase in average global temperatures between the late 1800s through the modern day. 2024 was the first year whose average temperature exceeded the 1.5°C threshold set by the Paris Climate Accords back in 2015.

Here's a graphic that shows the 10 hottest years in the USA. 2024 obviously takes the cake, but it's important to note that 9 of the 10 hottest years have all been this century.

According to Climat Central, Palm Springs experienced its 7th hottest year on record. 2024 was also 41% drier than usual. This comes as much of Southern California is experiencing either a moderate or severe drought. It has also been a historically dry start to the water year (since Oct. 1).

For much of 2024, we were experiencing El Nino conditions which are historically correlated with warmer global temperatures. Just the other day, the National Weather Service confirmed that La Nina conditions are present, so there is some hope that 2025 won't be quite as warm as 2024.