Earth Has Its Warmest May on Record Globally, Spring Could Be Warmest

This story was updated most recently at 10:05 p.m. ET on June 17.

Two of the leading centers that track global surface temperatures have reported their data for May, and they both found it to be the warmest such month on record for the planetNASA found that May had an average global temperature that was 1.38 degrees Fahrenheit above average, which would make it the warmest such month, coming out far ahead of May 2012. The Japanese Meteorological Agency's separate analysis also found both May and the meteorological spring months of March through May to be the warmest on record.

These results are preliminary, with the data from both agencies subject to revision. NASA posted a note on its surface-temperature data website Tuesday that said "missing data" from China has not yet arrived, and that their data is not "directly comparable" to previous records Read more...