Temperature Trends

NASA reports that calendar year 2005 was the warmest in a century. According to today's press release, while other climate researchers have ranked 2005 as the second warmest year, (based on comparisons through November), their studies did not include the Arctic in their analysis. NASA's did.

In either case, the five warmest years on record have all occurred in the last eight. By NASA's estimation they are (in descending order, warmest first): 2005, 1998, 2002, 2003 and 2004.

1998, the year that had previously held the record, was notable for an unusually strong El Nino event in the Pacific, which spiked global temperatures. 2005 had no such phenomenon.