The year 2014 is heading towards becoming the warmest year on Earth since 1880, the climate scientists and environmentalists said on Thursday.
The report by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has showed that the current year has almost won the race to become the warmest year since 1880.
The report showed that the global average temperature over land and ocean surfaces for October this year was recorded the highest for the month. The combined average temperature over global land and ocean surfaces for October 2014 was at 14.74 degrees Celsius, i.e. 0.74 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average of 14.0 degrees Celsius. With this temperature, the October figure has beaten the past record of 0.01 degrees Celsius recorded in 2003 for the same month.
According to the report, the recorded figure also marks the 38th consecutive October having a global temperature above the 20th century average. The NOAA found that it was in 1976 when the below-average global temperature occurred for October.
The global average temperatures for the January-to-October period and the month of October were both recorded the highest while surpassing the past records set in 1998 and 2010.
The global land temperature for October was recorded the fifth highest at 1.05 degrees Celsius above the 20th century average of 9.3 degrees Celsius.
While mentioning about other months, the NOAA report showed that five out of the previous six months were warm for their respective months. The month of July was recorded as the fourth warmest.
The warmer-than-average temperatures were mainly notable across most of the global land surfaces, excluding for major parts of central Asia.
According to NOAA, the record warmth was evident over a large part of the US western coastal regions, southern South America, parts of southern and southeastern Asia, Far East Russia, parts of southern Europe and much of southern and western Australia.