NOAA Announces 2015 is Warmest Year on Record

The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) today announced that 2015 was the warmest year by the widest margin on record. Globally averaged temperature over land and ocean surfaces for 2015 was the highest among all years since record keeping began in 1880. During the final month, the December combined global land and ocean average surface temperature was the highest on record for any month in the 136-year record.

Global highlights: Calendar Year 2015

• During 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.62°F (0.90°C) above the 20^th century average. This was the highest among all 136 years in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous record set last year by 0.29°F (0.16°C) and marking the fourth time a global temperature record has been set this century. This is also the largest margin by which the annual global temperature record has been broken. Ten months had record high temperatures for their respective months during the year. The five highest monthly departures from average for any month on record all occurred during 2015.
• Record warmth was broadly spread around the world, including Central America, the northern half of South America, parts of northern, southern, and eastern Europe stretching into western Asia, a large section of east central Siberia, regions of eastern and southern Africa, large parts of the northeastern and equatorial Pacific, a large swath of the western North Atlantic, most of the Indian Ocean, and parts of the Arctic Ocean.

For extended analysis of global climate patterns, please see the National Centers for Environmental Information's  full Annual report. 

Global highlights: December 2015

• During December, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 2.00°F (1.11°C) above the 20^th century average. This was the highest for December in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous record of 2014 by 0.52°F (0.29°C). The December temperature departure from average was also the highest departure among all months in the historical record and the first time a monthly departure has reached +2°F from the 20th century average.
• During December, the globally-averaged land surface temperature was 3.40°F (1.89°C) above the 20^th century average. This was the highest for December in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous record of 2006 by 0.86°F (0.48°C).
• During December, the globally-averaged sea surface temperature was 1.49°F (0.83°C) above the 20^th century average. This was also the highest for December in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous record of 2009 by 0.36°F (0.20°C).

For extended analysis of global temperature and precipitation patterns, please see the full December report