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The Last 8 Years Were the Hottest on Record

2022

+0.89°C

+0.75°C

Global average temperature

Compared with mid-20th century

+0.50°C

+0.25°C

–0.25°C

1880

1900

1920

1940

1960

1980

2000

2020

2022

+0.89°C

Global average temperature

Compared with mid-20th century

+0.75°C

+0.50°C

+0.25°C

–0.25°C

1880

1920

1960

2000

Source: NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies

The world remained firmly in warming’s grip last year, with extreme summer temperatures in Europe, China and elsewhere contributing to 2022 being the fifth-hottest year on record, European climate researchers said this week.

The eight warmest years on record have now occurred since 2014, the scientists, from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, reported, and 2016 remains the hottest year ever.

NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration also issued analyses of global temperatures for 2022 on Thursday, and their findings were similar. NASA’s analysis ranked 2022 as tied with 2015 for fifth warmest, while NOAA had last year as the sixth warmest.

“But ranks only tell you part of the story,” said Russell Vose, a NOAA scientist. What’s more important, he said, is that the past eight years are the warmest ever. “They really do stand apart,” he said.

Each of the past four decades has been warmer than one that preceded it, Dr. Vose added.

Overall, the world is now 1.2 degrees Celsius (2.1 degrees Fahrenheit) hotter than it was in the second half of the 19th century, when emissions of planet-warming carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels became widespread.

Carlo Buontempo, director of the Copernicus service, said the underlying warming trend since the pre-industrial age made 2022’s ranking in the top five “neither unexpected or unsurprising.”

“The rare event now would be to see a really cold year,” he said.

2022 average temperature anomaly compared with 1981–2010 baseline

–2°C

–1°C

0

+1°C

+2°C

+3°C

The Arctic is warming four times as fast as the rest of the world.

RUSSIA

Europe had its second-hottest year in 2022.

UNITED STATES

CHINA

Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

Despite La Niña’s cooling effect, 2022 was one of the hottest years on record.

Indian Ocean

BRAZIL

AUSTRALIA

–2°C

–1°C

0

+1°C

+2°C

+3°C

The Arctic is warming four times as fast as the rest of the world.

RUSSIA

Europe had its second-hottest year in 2022.

UNITED STATES

CHINA

Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

Despite La Niña’s cooling effect, 2022 was one of the hottest years on record.

Indian Ocean

BRAZIL

AUSTRALIA

–2°C

–1°C

0

+1°C

+2°C

+3°C

The Arctic is warming four times as fast as the rest of the world.

Europe had its second-hottest year in 2022.

Pacific Ocean

Pacific Ocean

Despite La Niña’s cooling effect, 2022 was one of the hottest years on record.

Atlantic Ocean

Indian Ocean

–2°C

–1°C

0

+1°C

+2°C

+3°C

The Arctic is warming four times as fast as the rest of the world.

Europe had its second-hottest year in 2022.

Despite La Niña’s cooling effect, 2022 was one of the hottest years on record.

–2°C

–1°C

0

+1°C

+2°C

+3°C

The Arctic is warming four times as fast as the rest of the world.

Europe had its second-hottest year in 2022.

Despite La Niña’s cooling effect, 2022 was one of the hottest years on record.

–2°C

–1°C

0

+1°C

+2°C

+3°C

Europe had its

second-hottest

year in 2022.

The Arctic is warming

four times as fast as

the rest of the world.

Despite La Niña’s cooling

effect, 2022 was one of the

hottest years on record.

–2°C

–1°C

0

+1°C

+2°C

+3°C

Europe had its

second-hottest

year in 2022.

The Arctic is warming

four times as fast as

the rest of the world.

Despite La Niña’s cooling

effect, 2022 was one of the

hottest years on record.

Source: Copernicus/ECMWF

“We are continuing the long-term warming trend of the planet,” said Zeke Hausfather, a researcher at Berkeley Earth, an independent organization that analyzes environmental data. “If you draw a straight line through temperatures since 1970, 2022 lands almost exactly on where you’d expect temperatures to be.”

Berkeley Earth also issued its own analysis this week, ranking 2022 as fifth warmest.

Last year was among the warmest despite the persistence of La Niña for the third consecutive year. La Niña is a climate pattern marked by colder-than-normal sea surface temperatures in the equatorial Pacific Ocean that tend to suppress global temperatures.

Temperature records broken during Europe’s hottest summer

NORWAY

SWEDEN

Oslo

Stockholm

ESTONIA

Weather station where record was broken

Region where record was broken

Linkoeping

98.4°F

Aalborg

93.9°F

LATVIA

Edinburgh

87.4°F

DENMARK

LITHUANIA

IRELAND

Hamburg

104.2°F

U.K.

Den Helder

97.0°F

Berlin

100.9°F

London

104.4°F

Warsaw

NETHERLANDS

POLAND

GERMANY

Frankfurt

CZECH REP.

Nantes–

Bouguenais

107.6°F

Paris

AUSTRIA

HUNGARY

FRANCE

ROMANIA

Lyon

CROATIA

Milan

Ourense

109.9°F

SERBIA

ITALY

Marseille

Porto

Madrid

105.3°F

Barcelona

Rome

PORTUGAL

Palma

102.4°F

Naples

SPAIN

Lisbon

GREECE

Almeria

107.6°F

NORWAY

Temperature records broken during Europe’s hottest summer

SWEDEN

Oslo

Stockholm

ESTONIA

Weather station where record was broken

Region where record was broken

Linkoeping

98.4°F

Aalborg

93.9°F

LATVIA

Edinburgh

87.4°F

DENMARK

LITHUANIA

IRELAND

Hamburg

104.2°F

Den Helder

97.0°F

U.K.

Berlin

100.9°F

London

104.4°F

Warsaw

POLAND

NETHERLANDS

GERMANY

Frankfurt

CZECH REP.

Nantes–

Bouguenais

107.6°F

Paris

AUSTRIA

FRANCE

ROMANIA

Lyon

CROATIA

Milan

Ourense

109.9°F

SERBIA

ITALY

Marseille

Porto

Madrid

105.3°F

Barcelona

Rome

PORTUGAL

Palma

102.4°F

Naples

Lisbon

SPAIN

GREECE

Almeria

107.6°F

Temperature records broken during Europe’s hottest summer

NORWAY

SWEDEN

Oslo

Stockholm

ESTONIA

Weather station where record was broken

Region where record was broken

Aalborg

93.9°F

Linkoeping

98.4°F

LATVIA

Edinburgh

87.4°F

DENMARK

LITHUANIA

Hamburg

104.2°F

IRELAND

U.K.

Den Helder

97.0°F

Berlin

100.9°F

London

104.4°F

Warsaw

POLAND

NETHERLANDS

GERMANY

Frankfurt

CZECH REP.

Nantes–

Bouguenais

107.6°F

Paris

FRANCE

AUSTRIA

Lyon

CROATIA

Milan

Ourense

109.9°F

SERBIA

Marseille

ITALY

Porto

Madrid

105.3°F

Barcelona

Rome

PORTUGAL

Palma

102.4°F

Naples

SPAIN

GREECE

Almeria

107.6°F

Temperature records broken during Europe’s hottest summer

NORWAY

SWEDEN

Oslo

Weather station where record was broken

Region where record was broken

Linkoeping

98.4°F

Aalborg

93.9°F

Edinburgh

87.4°F

DENMARK

IRELAND

Hamburg

104.2°F

U.K.

Den Helder

97.0°F

Berlin

100.9°F

POLAND

London

104.4°F

NETHERLANDS

GERMANY

Frankfurt

CZECH REP.

Nantes–

Bouguenais

107.6°F

Paris

AUSTRIA

FRANCE

Lyon

Milan

Ourense

109.9°F

ITALY

Marseille

Porto

Madrid

105.3°F

Barcelona

Rome

PORTUGAL

Palma

102.4°F

Naples

SPAIN

Almeria

107.6°F

Temperature records broken

during Europe’s hottest summer

NORWAY

SWEDEN

Weather station where record was broken

Region where record was broken

Oslo

Aalborg

93.9°F

Linkoeping

98.4°F

Edinburgh

87.4°F

DENMARK

Hamburg

104.2°F

IRELAND

U.K.

Den Helder

97.0°F

London

104.4°F

Berlin

100.9°F

NETHERLANDS

GERMANY

Nantes–

Bouguenais

107.6°F

Paris

FRANCE

Lyon

Milan

Ourense

109.9°F

ITALY

Marseille

Porto

Madrid

105.3°F

Barcelona

Rome

Palma

102.4°F

Naples

SPAIN

Almeria

107.6°F

Temperature records broken

during Europe’s hottest summer

Weather station where record was broken

Region where record was broken

SWEDEN

Linkoeping

98.4°F

Aalborg

93.9°F

Edinburgh

87.4°F

DENMARK

Hamburg

104.2°F

IRELAND

U.K.

London

104.4°F

Berlin

100.9°F

Nantes–

Bouguenais

107.6°F

GERMANY

FRANCE

Ourense

109.9°F

ITALY

Madrid

105.3°F

Palma

102.4°F

SPAIN

Almeria

107.6°F

Sources: Copernicus/ECMWF; NOAA Global Historical Climatology Network Records reflect the hottest year since at least 1980. Individual records do not reflect all weather stations that observed record temperatures in 2022. Record-breaking regions are based on Copernicus ERA5 reanalysis models.

The Copernicus scientists said Europe had its hottest summer ever in 2022, with several heat waves rolling across the continent that set temperature records in many cities. Separate research has shown that heat waves in Europe are increasing in frequency and intensity at a faster rate than almost anywhere else, fueled by warming but also, most likely, by shifts in atmospheric and oceanic circulation.

The effects of such a warm year were felt elsewhere around the world as well. Eastern and Central China, Pakistan and India all experienced lengthy and extreme heat waves in 2022, and monsoon floods in Pakistan ravaged much of the country. The heat and accompanying dryness also contributed to extensive wildfires in the Western United States.


Methodology

Temperature anomaly chartAnomalies are shown relative to the average temperature between 1951 and 1980.

Europe records mapIndividual records are taken from weather stations with at least 40 years of continuous operation and a minimum of 183 observations in any given year. Individual maximum temperature observations that failed quality checks were excluded.

Exact weather stations for each city are: Edinburgh Royal Botanic Garden, London Heathrow, Ourense, Madrid Retiro, Almeria Airport, Den Helder, Hamburg Neuwiedenthal, Berlin Buch, Aalborg Airport and Linkoeping Malmslätt.

Regional temperature records were calculated from Copernicus ECWMF's ERA5 Reanalysis 2m temperature data, obtained through the Copernicus Climate Data Store. Maximum temperatures in 2022 were compared with the maximum temperatures for all previous years going back to 1980.