Record May Heat Extends to Northern Hemisphere, Global Land Surface

Not only did the U.S. break the record for warmest May, but National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) preliminary data, released late this morning, show that the entire Northern Hemisphere land and ocean surface temperature and the global land temperature were also the warmest on record. The combined global land and ocean temperature was the second warmest on record, behind 2010. All continents, except Australia, averaged warmer than the climatological base period of 1971-2000.

Some highlights from the NCDC:

The Northern Hemisphere land and ocean average surface temperature for May 2012 was the all-time warmest May on record, at 0.85°C (1.53°F) above average.

The globally-averaged land surface temperature for May 2012 was the all-time warmest May on record, at 1.21°C (2.18°F) above average.

The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for May 2012 was 0.66°C (1.19°F) above the 20th century average of 14.8°C (58.6°F). This is the second warmest May since records began in 1880, behind only 2010.

For March–May (boreal spring) 2012, the combined global land and ocean surface temperature was 0.59°C (1.06°F) above average—the seventh warmest such period on record.

The combined global land and ocean average surface temperature for January–May 2012 was the 11th warmest on record, at 0.50°C (0.90°F) above the 20th century average.