The May temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.49°F above the twentieth-century average of 58.6°F. Since 1880, May temperatures have been rising by 0.13°F (0.07°C) per decade.
We're nine laps into the race to set a new global annual temperature record. NOAA climate scientist Deke Arndt talks about how this year's race might end--and why yearly rankings tell us less about the big picture of climate change than we might think.
Globally-averaged surface temperature for 2013 was 0.36 - 0.38° Fahrenheit above the 1981–2010 average, placing it among the top 10 warmest years since record-keeping began.
Since 1976, every year has been warmer than the long-term average, and 2012 continued the trend: the global surface temperature ranked among the top 10 warmest years on record.
The average global temperature (land and ocean) for May 2012 was the second warmest May temperature since recordkeeping began in 1880, and the temperature over land surfaces was the warmest on record for May. May 2012 also marks the 327th consecutive month with a global temperature above the 20th-century average.