"2014 Breaks Heat Record, Challenging Global Warming Skeptics"

"Last year was the hottest on earth since record-keeping began in 1880, scientists reported on Friday, underscoring warnings about the risks of runaway greenhouse gas emissions and undermining claims by climate change contrarians that global warming had somehow stopped.

Extreme heat blanketed Alaska and much of the western United States last year. Records were set across large areas of every inhabited continent. And the ocean surface was unusually warm virtually everywhere except near Antarctica, the scientists said, providing the energy that fueled damaging Pacific storms.

In the annals of climatology, 2014 surpassed 2010 as the warmest year. The 10 warmest years have all occurred since 1997, a reflection of the relentless planetary warming that scientists say is a consequence of human activity and poses profound long-term risks to civilization and nature."

Justin Gillis reports for the New York Times January 16, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"Global Summary Information - December 2014" (NOAA National Climatic Data Center)

"GO FIGURE: Figuring the Odds of Earth's Global Hot Streak" (AP)

"A Bad Day for Climate Change Deniers … And the Planet" (TIME)

"The Heat Is On; NOAA, NASA Say 2014 Warmest Year on Record" (AP)

"2014 Officially the Hottest Year on Record" (Guardian)

Release: "NASA, NOAA Find 2014 Warmest Year in Modern Record " (NASA)

"It’s Official: 2014 Was the Hottest Year" (Washington Post)

"Our Hottest Year, Our Cold Indifference" (New Yorker)

"Record! 2014 Was Earth's Warmest Year" (USA TODAY)

"Broken Record: 2014 Proves Hottest Year" (Scientific American/Climate Central)