European data: 2017 was second hottest year on record, after 2016
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OSLO - Last year was the second hottest worldwide on record, just behind a sweltering 2016 with signs of climate change ranging from wildfires to a thaw of Arctic ice, a European Union monitoring centre said on Thursday.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service, the first major international weather agency to report global 2017 temperatures, said they averaged 14.7 degrees Celsius (58.46°F) or 1.2C (2.2F) above pre-industrial times.
Last year was slightly "cooler than the warmest year on record, 2016, and warmer than the previous second warmest year, 2015," the report said. Temperature records date back to the late 19th century.
