Global Temperature Analysis

2013 Ties with 2003 as the fourth warmest year on record: NCDC

2013 was the 37th consecutive year (since 1976) with the annual global temperature remaining above average.

Highlights from NCDC Report

• The combined land and ocean surface temperature was 0.62°C (1.12°F) above the 20^th century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F).
• Currently, the warmest year on record is 2010 with the temperature 0.66°C (1.19°F) above average.
• 9 of the 10 warmest years since records began in 1880 have occurred in the 21^st century.
• 1990, the third warmest year on record, is the only one of the top 10 records set in 20^th century.

Global combined land and ocean annually-averaged temperature rank and anomaly for  the 10 warmest years on record (since 1880). Tie is based on temperature anomaly in °C. Data Sourced from NCDC

Global Land Temperature

The average global land temperature in 2013 was 0.99°C (1.78°F) above the 20th century average and ranked as the fourth highest annually-averaged value on record.

Global Ocean Temperature

Globally-averaged ocean surface temperature in 2013 saw an anomaly of 0.48°C (0.86°F) above the 20^th century average, tying with 2006 as the eighth warmest year on record, reported NCDC.

The departure was just 0.04°C (0.07°F) below the record high of 0.58°C (1.04°F), which was set in both 1998 and 2003.

NOTE: The 1901-2000 average combined land and ocean annual temperature is 13.9°C (56.9°F), the annually averaged land temperature for the same period is 8.5°C (47.3°F), and the long-term annually averaged sea surface temperature is 16.1°C (60.9°F).

Billion-Dollar Weather/Climate Disasters

Some 151 weather/climate disasters have occurred between 1980 and 2013, with the overall damages/costs reaching or exceeding $1 billion (including CPI adjustment to 2013). The total cost of these 151 disasters exceeds $1 trillion, according to NCDC.

The 2013 toll of billion-dollar weather and climate disasters across the United States stands at 7 events, which included five severe weather and tornado episodes, a major flood episode, and the western drought/heat wave.