NOAA: 2015 officially hottest year on record. -- Skeptics just insist all scientists are lying

NASA and NOAA report 2015 hottest year on record.

More evidence. There's more proof the planet is warming, and it's not even a debatable subject anymore. According to NOAA, 2015 is the hottest year on record, by far.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) - Last year was the hottest recorded year since record-keeping began. According to NASA and NOAA, 2015 was officially .23 degrees Fahrenheit hotter than 2014.

Normally when temperature records are broken, it is done by a few hundredths of a degree, but not this time. Thomas Karl, director of NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information explained, "This record, we literally smashed. It was over a quarter of a degree Fahrenheit, and that's a lot for the global temperature."

The fact is, Earth is warming and the warming has not slowed down, unlike what skeptics claim. In fact, it's getting harder to be skeptical. At this point, the only argument skeptics have is, "they must be lying."

But the numbers don't lie. A supposed "pause" in global warming was debunked in November, and the overall trend remains up. Sea levels continue to rise by nearly 2 millimeters per year. Sea ice has been found expanding in some areas of Antarctica, but these anomalies only reveal that our picture of the entire system is incomplete. Despite this incomplete knowledge, the trend is obvious. The planet is warming, period.

Local cold weather, severe storms, and other statistical outliers mean little in the face of the inexorable heating of our planet. Notably, the oceans are also warming, possibly absorbing the vast majority of the heat now circulating on the planet. This is why El Nino is breaking all records, and still may not have peaked, despite the fact we are in January.

Global warming is caused by the release of massive amounts of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere. These gasses are very powerful and can trap heat. Clouds, and their attendant water vapor, have recently been proven to have an insulating effect, contributing to warming. This is similar to what we see on Venus, which is entirely shrouded in clouds, and is the hottest planet in the solar system with an atmosphere rich in CO2.

We know tis CO2 is man-made as opposed to natural because the isotopes are different between that which comes from nature in the form of volcanic eruptions and burning forests, and that which comes from fossil fuels.

Humans are pumping more CO2 out than the biosphere can absorb, which is leading to a hotter planet.

Even if people take dramatic measures to curtail global warming today, the planet will continue to warm for some time.

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