This has been by far the hottest year on record, and the thermometer just keeps rising. Blame climate change and a merciless El Nino, which is still gathering strength in the Pacific Ocean.

Last month was the hottest October in 136 years of data, according to U.S. figures released Wednesday, making it the eighth record-breaking month so far in this record-breaking year. This week the El Nino weather pattern started setting records of its own, with some of the warmest weekly temperatures ever seen across swaths of the equatorial Pacific.

El Nino has already triggered powerful typhoons, spoiled cocoa harvests in Africa, and contributed to vast fires in Indonesia. The effects are just getting started, and this El Nino may carry on through late spring or early summer, according to the U.S. Climate Prediction Center. The heat that's dispersed into the atmosphere during an El Nino can linger, which means 2016 could be yet another record-hot year worldwide. 

Every El Nino is unique, and this year isn't yet considered the worst. By most measures, that title is held by 1997-98, which recorded the highest sustained temperatures over a three-month period.¹ If current conditions persist, 2015 could exceed that.    

David Fuller's view

Reports on the climate are usually controversial, not least because they can also be worrying.  Everyone has their own verdict on climate change, such as it is, based mostly on what they have experienced and where they live.  

For instance, the Fuller family’s experience in London is that temperatures have been more moderate in recent years than three or four decades ago.  In the last two winters, we had minimal ice on the streets and only one or two very brief snow flurries.  Spring was mild and summer slightly warmer, but with very few days which I would describe as actually hot.  This autumn has also been mild with little need for coats, thanks to the Gulfstream.  However reports say that this will change over the weekend with wind blowing in from the North.  

If the report above is correct (see the concluding video) the Asia Pacific region will be most vulnerable to a strong El Nino.  Conversely, there is likely to be some improvement in the drought conditions which have caused problems in California and Texas in recent years.