24 March 2010: The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) has published the Statement on the Status of the Global Climate in 2009, an annual survey by the agency about the weather and climate change. In the Statement, the WMO highlights that the first decade of the new millennium was the warmest on record.

The decade between 2000 and 2009 also included one of the warmest years on record – 2009, which was the fifth hottest year since records began. “The decade of the 2000s was warmer than the decade of the 1990s, which in turn was warmer than the 1980s,” said Omar Baddour, Chief of the Data Management Application Divisions at the WMO. “The current nominal ranking of 2009 places it as the fifth-warmest year since the beginning of instrumental climate records [in 1850],” Baddour noted.
The information is based on climate data collected from some 10,000 land stations, 3,000 aircraft, 1,000 upper-air stations and 1,000 ships as well as nearly 70 satellites. The Statement’s release coincided with the 60th anniversary of the WMO on 23 March 2010. [UN News Press Release] [WMO Statement]