2010 Ties for Warmest Year on Record

Every January, NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center [2] provides an expert analysis of the previous year’s climate. This puts the extreme weather [3] of 2010 into a broader context. The record warmth of the past year adds to the huge body of evidence [4] that the earth continues to warm.

Here are some of NOAA’s key finding:

Global average temperature

• 2010 is tied with 2005 as the warmest year since 1880 when NOAA’s records begin. The temperature was 1.1°F above the 20th century average.
• The Northern Hemisphere was the warmest on record while the Southern Hemisphere was the 6th warmest since 1880.
• 9 out of the 10 warmest years on record are from 2001 and after.
• Every year since 2000 is one of the 15 warmest years.
• It is the 34th consecutive year that was warmer than the 20th century average.
• NOAA scientist David Easterling said that the top ranking of 2010 reinforces the conclusion that the climate is continuing to warm because of increasing greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

• Global snow cover was the lowest on record
• Arctic sea ice reached its third-smallest summer minimum
• In the United States, both land surface temperature and amount of rainfall were in the top third since 1880.
• Although the eastern U.S. is having a cold winter, Canada and the Arctic are unusually warm, maintaining a globally warm condition.

Read more from NOAA: 

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/ [5]

http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110112_globalstats.html [6]

Jay Gulledge is Senior Scientist and Director of the Science and Impacts Program