In any cyclical or trending system (especially one influenced by multi-year cycles like El Niño and La Niña), you expect to see clumps. Years with similar atmospheric conditions will naturally cluster together.

An overall upward trajectory is defined by the movement of those clusters over time and the long-term statistical trend is anomalous because of shattering of previous ceilings.

The flaw in your logic is the implicit assumption that because historical data points share similar values, the new, record-breaking spikes are somehow less significant.

We’re living in unprecedented times, geologically. Fighting reality by questioning the measurements is a uphill battle, and disingenuous at best.

Can see basically 5 different groups.