Claim: An additional kick was supplied by an El Niño weather pattern that peaked in 2016 and temporarily warmed much of the surface of the planet, causing the hottest year in a historical record dating to 1880.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: An El Niño is associated with warm and very wet weather months in April–October along the coasts of northern Peru and Ecuador, causing major flooding whenever the event is strong or extreme.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: However, over time the term has evolved and now refers to the warm and negative phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation and is the warming of the ocean surface or above-average sea surface temperatures in either the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: Scientists have also found the chemical signatures of warmer sea surface temperatures and increased rainfall caused by El Niño in coral specimens that are around 13,000 years old.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: The event temporarily warmed air temperature by 1.5 °C, compared to the usual increase of 0.25 °C associated with El Niño events.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: La Niña is the positive and cold phase of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and is associated with cooler-than-average sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: The 2014–16 El Niño was a warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean that resulted in unusually warm waters developing between the coast of South America and the International Date Line.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: 2016 was the warmest year on record.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: El Niño events cause short-term (approximately 1 year in length) spikes in global average surface temperature while La Niña events cause short term cooling.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is a coupled ocean-atmosphere phenomenon in the Pacific Ocean responsible for most of the global variability in temperature, and has a cycle between two and seven years.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: This long-term trend is the main cause for the record warmth of 2015 and 2016, surpassing all previous years—even ones with strong El Niño events."

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: 2016's record meant that 16 of the 17 warmest years have occurred since 2000, 2017 being the third-hottest year on record meant that 17 of the last 18 warmest years have occurred since 2000.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: The year 2016 was the hottest year on record, with many weather and climate extremes, according to the most recent WMO report.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: 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 Niño warming was estimated to have "increased the annual global temperature anomaly for 2016 by 0.2 degrees Fahrenheit (0.12 degrees Celsius)."