2014 was the warmest year in NOAA's 135 year record.
2014 was the hottest on year record according to NOAA, NASA and the Japan Meteorological Agency. The high temperatures were not associated with a strong El Nino or a strong solar maximum. There is no credible scientific explanation for the record high temperatures except record high levels of greenhouse gases. CO2 levels hit the 400ppm milestone, a level not seen in millions of years when the climate was much warmer, in spring 2014. About the same time the solar maximum apparently was reached, but it was the weakest since the first decade of the twentieth century. The peak of solar activity was reached in the mid twentieth century and has been declining ever since. Man-made climate change, not natural solar cycles explain the record high temperatures.
Atmospheric CO2 levels broke the 400parts per million milestone in spring 2014 at NOAA's Mauna Loa observatory. Levels started 2014 above 400ppm, the first new year's in human history above 400ppm CO2.
Global highlights: Calendar Year 2014
For extended analysis of global climate patterns, please see our full Annual report
During 2014, the average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.24°F (0.69°C) above the 20th century average. This was the highest among all 135 years in the 1880–2014 record, surpassing the previous records of 2005 and 2010 by 0.07°F (0.04°C).
Record warmth was spread around the world, including Far East Russia into western Alaska, the western United States, parts of interior South America, most of Europe stretching into northern Africa, parts of eastern and western coastal Australia, much of the northeastern Pacific around the Gulf of Alaska, the central to western equatorial Pacific, large swaths of northwestern and southeastern Atlantic, most of the Norwegian Sea, and parts of the central to southern Indian Ocean.
2014 Temperature Outcome Scenarios
Global temperature time series: land and ocean components. From 2014 Global Report Supplemental Information.
During 2014, the globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.80°F (1.00°C) above the 20th century average. This was the fourth highest among all years in the 1880–2014 record.
During 2014, the globally-averaged sea surface temperature was 1.03°F (0.57°C) above the 20th century average. This was the highest among all years in the 1880–2014 record, surpassing the previous records of 1998 and 2003 by 0.09°F (0.05°C).
The solar maximum apparently reached in April, 2014, is the peak of the weakest solar cycle in 100 years.
The current prediction for Sunspot Cycle 24 gives a smoothed sunspot number maximum of about 72 in late 2013. The smoothed sunspot number reached a peak of 81.9 in April 2014. This will probably become the official maximum. This second peak surpassed the level of the first peak (66.9 in February 2012). Many cycles are double peaked but this is the first in which the second peak in sunspot number was larger than the first. We are currently over six years into Cycle 24. The current predicted and observed size makes this the smallest sunspot cycle since Cycle 14 which had a maximum of 64.2 in February of 1906.