Recent Observations

According to both NASA and NOAA, 2013 was one of the warmest years since records began in 1880 and James Hansen, former head of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and other climate scientists project that 2014 or 2015 will also set a record. The warmest year on record was 2010, which was 0.7°C (1.2°F) above average and the 2001-2010 decade was the warmest on record (National Climatic Data Center, NOAA).

Other benchmarks are:

  • 2013 was the 37th consecutive year that global mean temperature was above average.
  • Nine of the ten warmest years since the Industrial Revolution occurred in the 21st century with only one year, 1998, warmer.
  • Worldwide, the summer of 2014 was the warmest on record.