Last week was the hottest ever recorded — here's why we keep smashing records

Hotter seas are a huge problem, says atmospheric scientist Marybeth Arcodia of Colorado State University in Fort Collins.

Then in June, La Niña’s counterpart, El Niño, got underway. Many scientists think that El Niño can be triggered by westerly wind bursts — anomalous winds that sometimes appear in the western Pacific, says physical oceanographer Regina Rodrigues of the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Florianópolis, Brazil. These bursts blow opposite to the trade winds and weaken them, she says, setting the stage for El Niño.

on record, and it was during La Niña conditions, Arcodia says. That underscores the influence of climate warming on these record-breaking temperatures, she says.

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