claim: This means it is possible that by some yardsticks, 2016 will be declared as hot as 2015 or even slightly hotter – because El Nino did not vanish until the middle of the year.
evidence: During November and December 2015, values within NOAA's Oceanic Nino Index peaked at 2.4 °C ( 4.3 °F ), which surpassed December 1997 value of 2.2 °C ( 4.0 °F ).