claim: On Feb. 7, several major newspapers carried stories of the declaration by NASA and NOAA that the past five years have been the warmest on record.
evidence: Consistent with Schmidt's comment, the NASA  /  NOAA announcement stated that globally-averaged temperatures in 2016 were 1.78 degrees Fahrenheit ( 0.99 degrees Celsius ) warmer than the mid-20th century mean and that the impact of El Nino warming was estimated to have increased the annual global temperature anomaly for 2016 by 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit ( 0.12 degrees Celsius ).