The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) reports that 2014 was the hottest year in recorded history. December also reached a record high for that month, as did ocean temperatures.
Temperatures have been officially recorded every year since 1880.
The Global Analysis - Annual 2014 report, compiled by the agency, working under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), outlined significant weather and climate events throughout the year.
"This marks the third time in the 21st century a new record high annual temperature has been set or tied and also marks the 38th consecutive year (since 1977) that the annual temperature has been above the long-term average. To date, including 2014, 9 of the 10 warmest years on record have occurred during the 21st century. 1998 currently ranks as the fourth warmest year on record," NCDC officials wrote in the full report.
Record high temperatures were set during six months of 2014, including December, May, June, August, September, and October. April 2014 was the second-hottest on record. While January, March, and July saw the fourth-highest temperatures on record for those months. November was the seventh-warmest seen since record collection began.
This marks the first time since 1990 that a temperature record was broken during a year without an El Niño weather pattern. These conditions usually result in higher temperatures around the globe.
Global temperatures have risen at an average rate of 0.11 degrees Fahrenheit every decade since 1880, and 0.28 degrees every teen years since 1970, according to NOAA. Surface ocean temperatures in 2014 were measured to be 1.03 degrees Fahrenheit over the 20th Century average.
"Record warmth for the year was particularly notable in the northeastern Pacific Ocean in and around the Gulf of Alaska, much of the western equatorial Pacific, parts of the western North Atlantic and western South Atlantic, and much of the Norwegian and Barents Seas," NOAA officials stated in the report.
Higher land temperatures were also recorded around the globe, from the western United States and regions of South America, as well as northern Africa and most of Europe. Regions surrounding the northeast Pacific Ocean and Gulf of Alaska also set record highs.
Analysis of climate models show there is only one chance in 27 million that the record heat records set over the last decades were due to natural causes, according to environmental research group Climate Central.
"According to data from NOAA analyzed by the Rutgers Global Snow Lab, the Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent during December was 130,000 square miles below the 1981-2010. This was the 20th smallest December Northern Hemisphere snow cover extent in the 49-year period of record" NOAA managers stated.
