State of the Climate in 2005

The State of the Climate 2005 report summarizes global and regional climate conditions and places them, where possible, into the context of historical records. Descriptions and analyses of notable climatic anomalies, both global and regional, also are presented. According to the Smith and Reynolds global land and ocean surface temperature dataset in use at the NOAA National Climatic Data Center (NCDC), the globally averaged annual mean surface temperature in 2005 was the warmest since the inception of consistent temperature observations in 1880. Unlike the previous record positive anomaly of 1998 (+0.50°C), the 2005 global anomaly of 0.53°C above the 1961–90 mean occurred in the absence of a strong El Nino signal. The record ranking of 2005 was corroborated by a dataset maintained at NASA, while United Kingdom archives placed 2005 second behind 1998. However, statistically, the 2005 global temperature anomaly could not be differentiated from either 1998 or any of the past four years. The majority...