2014 was the warmest year on record, globally, and the coldest year in the United States since 1997.

As mentioned above, NBCnews.com has reported 2014 to be the coldest year in the United States since 1997. It can be seen on the NOAA world map below that the cold temperatures were predominantly on the East Coast.

Noting the unusually cold weather adds a measure of objective balance to the report of the warming trend identified in the article below. Just as it is possible that the Maunder Minimum, experienced since the turn of the century, somehow led to colder United States weather in 2014, one should remain aware that there may be many factors yet to be discovered, which affect global climate patterns.

2014 warmest year on record

NASA, NOAA, and Japan Meteorological Agency all report 2014 as Earth’s warmest year since modern-day record-keeping began in 1880.

It’s official. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) confirmed on January 16, 2015 that 2014 was Earth’s warmest year since record-keeping began in 1880. 2010 owned the title for warmest year prior to 2014, with 2005 and 1998 just behind it. It might have been cool where you lived, but most of the globe was experiencing temperatures well above average. The report also says that global oceans experienced the warmest year ever recorded, making ocean temps in 2014 the highest among all years in the 1880–2014 record, and surpassing the previous records of 1998 and 2003 by 0.09̊F (0.05̊C).

Six months of 2014 – May, June, August, September, October, and December – had record warmth for land and ocean temperatures, combined beating out all monthly records set since 1880.

If you don’t believe NOAA and NASA (which you should), the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) also confirms that 2014 was the warmest year recorded since record-keeping has begun. Observed sea surface temperatures and anomalies for the Eastern Pacific in January 2015.

It is important to note that El Niño years are known to add an extra boost to global climate temperatures. El Niño develops when unusually warm ocean temperatures in the eastern Equatorial Pacific forms. When waters are unusually cooler than average, they are considered in the state of La Niña.

The last El Niño occurred in 2009-2010 and the last strong one occurred in 1997-1998. Obviously, those years corresponds to some of the warmest years ever recorded since 1880.

With this said, 2014 was projected to enter an El Niño, but it never formed as predicted with only neutral (near-average temperatures) conditions occurring in the equatorial eastern Pacific Ocean. Can you imagine how much warmer 2014 could have been had an El Niño formed? According to NOAA, there is a 50-60% chance an El Niño will form in the next two months with ENSO-neutral conditions favored afterwards.

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