Democrat Seeking Lamar Smith's House Seat Says Each of the Past Three Years 'Hottest on Record'
For our part, we asked experts including the respective state climatologists for Florida and Texas--big states on the Gulf of Mexico--to evaluate Crowe's claim.
David Zierden of the Florida Climate Center and John Nielsen-Gammon of Texas A&M University each cited the conclusion that global average surface temperatures in 2016 set a record high--just as record highs were reached in 2014 and 2015. By email, Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Center at Texas Tech University, and Clare Nullis, a spokeswoman for the World Meteorological Organization, a United Nations agency, each concurred.