21 July 2015: In a report titled ‘State of the Climate in 2014,’ the American Meteorological Society has described 2014 as the warmest year on record. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has also reported that the January-June 2015 period was the hottest on record, citing figures provided by the National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration (NOAA) of the US Department of Commerce in its ‘State of the Climate: Global Analysis for June 2015’ report.

Compiled by NOAA’s Center for Weather and Climate at the National Centers for Environmental Information, ‘State of the Climate in 2014’ – the 25th report in an annual series – provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, as well as other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments.

Its main findings for 2014 include that: greenhouse gases (GHGs) continued to climb; record temperatures were observed near the Earth’s surface; sea surface temperatures were record high; global sea level was record high; the Arctic continued to warm, with sea ice extent remaining low; and tropical cyclones were overall above average.

NOAA’s main finding for January-June 2015 was that the average temperature for this six-month period was 0.85°C above the 20th century average of 15.5°C, surpassing the previous record set in 2010 by 0.09°C. The average global sea surface temperature and the average land surface temperature were also record high.

According to WMO and NOAA, June is the third month in 2015 that has broken its monthly temperature record, along with March and May, with the globally average temperature over land and ocean surfaces being the highest for the month of June since record keeping began in 1880. [Publication: State of the Climate in 2014] [Publication: State of the Climate: Global Analysis for June 2015] [WMO Press Release] [UN Press Release] [NOAA Press Release]