The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) reported Friday that the average combined global land and ocean surface temperature for 2014 was the highest ever recorded since record-keeping started in 1880. Temperatures rose 1.24 degrees Fahrenheit above the 20th century average of 54 degrees. At the end of December, the temperature was 1.39 degrees above the average.

The NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center noted some anomalies in various regions of the world during the month of December. The base period for comparison was the 30-year stretch from 1981 to 2010.

• In Austria, the December temperature averaged 4.3 degrees above the 30-year monthly average and was among the 15 warmest Decembers since Austria began keeping records 247 years ago. No state capital in the country had snow on the ground on Christmas Day, only the second time that has happened in nearly 70 years.
• The lower 48 U.S. states posted the second-warmest December on record, with an average temperature 3.9 degrees above the 30-year average. Every state in the lower 48 was warmer than average in December. Alaska’s December was the fifth warmest on record, and in Anchorage temperatures were the second-warmest on record.
• In Australia, December temperatures were the sixth highest on record, up 1.62 degrees in the first month of summer down under.
• In Norway, temperatures averaged 2.7 degrees higher than the 1961 to 1990 average, and temperatures in the northern part of the country were 3.4 degrees higher than the long-term average.

The 10 warmest years on record since 1880, based on combined land and ocean annually-averaged temperature rank and anomaly, are:

1. 2014, +1.24 degrees Fahrenheit
2. 2010, +1.17
3. 2005, +1.17
4. 1998, +1.13
5. 2013, +1.12
6. 2003, +1.12
7. 2002, +1.10
8. 2006, +1.08
9. 2009, +1.06
10. 2007, +1.06

The data appears to speak for itself.

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