2016 weather report: Extreme and anything but normal

WASHINGTON -- Last year's global weather was far more extreme or record-breaking than anything approaching normal, according to a new report.

The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday released its annual checkup of the Earth, highlighting numerous records including hottest year; highest sea level; and lowest sea ice in the Arctic and Antarctica.

The 299-page report, written by scientists around the world and published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society, shows 2016 was "very extreme, and it is a cause for concern," said co-editor Jessica Blunden, a NOAA climate scientist.

Scientists examined dozens of key climate measures and found:

• At any given time, nearly one-eighth of the world's land mass was in severe drought.
• Extreme weather was everywhere.
• Global sea level rose another quarter of an inch for the sixth straight year of record-high sea levels.
• There were 93 tropical cyclones across the globe, 13 percent more than normal.
• The world's glaciers shrank -- for the 37th year in a row -- by an average of about 3 feet.
• Greenland's ice sheet in 2016 lost 341 billion tons of ice.