January–April Global Temperature Highest Ever Recorded

Global temperature rises to a new record across land and ocean surfaces: Report

During January–April 2015, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 0.80°C (1.44°F) above the 20th century average—the highest for the period since 1880, NCDC reported.

Global highlights: Year-to-date (January–April 2015)

• The January–April globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.48°C  (2.66°F) above the 20^th century average—the highest for the period since records began in 1880.
• The globally-averaged sea surface temperature for the period was 0.55°C (0.99°F) above the 20^th century average, tying  with 2010 as the second highest for January–April on record, trailing 1998 by 0.04°F (0.02°C).

Global highlights: April 2015

• The April globally-averaged sea surface temperature (SST) was 0.60°C (1.08°F) above the 20th century average—the highest for April ever recorded, said NCDC.
• April’s average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 0.74°C (1.33°F) above the 20^th century average, making it the fourth highest for April on record.
• The April globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.11°C (2.00°F) above the 20^th century average, making it the 10^th highest for April in the 1880–2015 record.

Polar Icecaps

• The average Arctic sea ice extent for April was more than 800,000 square kilometers ( 310,000 square miles) about 5.5 percent below the 1981–2010 average, or the second smallest April extent since records began in 1979, the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported. The 2007 April extent was 78,000 square kilometers (30,000 square miles) smaller.
• Antarctic sea ice in April was 1,657,000 square kilometers (640,000 square miles) about 22.4 percent above the 1981–2010 average, making it the largest April Antarctic sea ice extent on record, surpassing the previous record of 2014 by 26,000 square kilometers (10,000 square miles).

Source: NOAA National Climatic Data Center, State of the Climate: Global Analysis for April 2015, published online May 2015, retrieved on May 20, 2015 from http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/201504.

Related Links

• Warmest Ever: March and Q1, 2015 April 18, 2015