The last time Earth was this warm was 125,000 years ago

The planet sizzled to its thirdstraight record- warm year in 2016, and human activity is to blame, federal scientists announced Wednesday.

The last time the world was definitely warmer than today? About 125,000 years ago, based on data from tree rings, ice cores, sediments and other measures of Earth’s history, NASA climate scientist Gavin Schmidt says.

The average temperature across land and ocean surfaces in 2016 was 58.69 degrees, 1.69 degrees above average, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration ( NOAA) said. It was largest margin by which an annual global temperature record has ever been broken, the agency said.

Although less than 2 degrees above average may sound small, it’s large in climate science, in which records are broken by tenths or even hundredths of degrees.

A separate analysis from NASA concurred with NOAA’s findings. Most of the warming has happened in the past 35 years, and 16 of the 17 warmest years have occurred since 2001, NASA said.

Temperature records were set in 2016 on nearly every continent. No land areas were cooler than average. For eight straight months ( January through August), each month recorded its warmest temperatures since record keeping began 15 years after the Civil War ended.

The warmth last year contributed to deadly heat waves in Asia and the Middle East, a “mega”- wildfire in Canada, record- low sea ice in the Arctic, and devastating coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef near Australia. The warmth was 80% to 90% the result of the longterm climate trend and 10% the result of the natural El Niño climate pattern, Schmidt says.

Since the start of the 21st century, NOAA said, the annual global temperature record has been broken five times — 2005, 2010, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Looking ahead, Schmidt said 2017 probably will be a “top 5” warm year for the planet.

“The science is clear and headed in one direction. ... Nature is sending a distress call.” Lou Leonard, World Wildlife Fund

CHANNI ANNAND, AP A girl drinks from an irrigation tube last May in Jammu, India, during a record heat wave when temperatures topped 120 degrees.