Last year was the hottest on record. Here's how you can get ready for similarly sizzling temperatures and other extreme weather in 2024.

Forecast 2024
Last year's heat was no anomaly. It's part of a long-term trend: The last 10 years have been the ten warmest on record, according to NASA, with most of the Earth's warming taking place over the last 40 years. Most forecasters are anticipating yet another year of extreme heat ahead.

"If we look at the forecast for the next three months in the long range, it's suggesting that the trend that we're seeing in baseline warming could continue, and so 2024 could rival 2023 for being the hottest year on record, which is very scary," says Chloe Brimicombe, a heatwave researcher at the University of Graz.

Some of the extreme weather we experienced in the latter half of last year and will continue to experience in the first half of this year is a result of El Niño, a cyclical climate event that sees unusually warm ocean waters that has a knock-on effect of warmer temperatures and increased rainfall across the southern part of the US. For instance, temperatures in Death Valley, California peaked at 128 degrees Fahrenheit in July, while forecasters predict a much colder, wetter winter for Southern states this winter.

NOAA's seasonal forecast predicts El Niño will result in warmer temperatures in northern parts of the US stretching into February of this year, with some government weather forecasters estimating its effects may be felt through June.