2020 ranks among the hottest years ever recorded
Global temperatures nearly matched the all-time record, capping a decade that was the warmest in modern history.
The year 2020 ranked among the hottest ever recorded, scientists reported, nearly matching the all-time global temperature record and capping off the warmest decade in modern history — a stark marker of the steady, human-driven warming of the planet.
Global average temperatures for the year were essentially tied with the previous record, remarkable given that the year occurred during a La Niña phase, which typically has a slight cooling influence on global temperatures. That the year was still so warm underscored the strength of the long-term warming trend.
The heat was felt around the world, fuelling record wildfires in the American West, Siberia and Australia, contributing to a record Atlantic hurricane season, and driving the continued loss of Arctic sea ice, which reached one of its lowest extents on record.
Scientists emphasised that individual years matter less than the long-term trajectory, which shows a clear and accelerating rise in global temperatures driven by the burning of fossil fuels and the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
The findings added to the mounting evidence of a warming world and the urgency of cutting emissions. Each of the warmest years on record has occurred in recent times, a pattern researchers describe not as a series of coincidences but as the unmistakable signature of a changing climate, with consequences unfolding in real time across the globe.