It's FREEZING At My House, But At Least 2014 Was Hottest Ever, Globally

A definite upward trend in temperatures on Earth since about 1900.  

I've been awaiting the major players who track global climate, from NASA,   National Climatic Data Center, the UK Met Office in Britain and the Japan Meteorological Agency.  

Each one measures things a bit differently. During the month of January, each would come out with their assessment of the year just past.

Turned out Japan Meteorological Agency was the first to weigh in and they confirm 2014 was the hottest year on record since people really, really got into measuring these things about 120 years ago.

The JMA says 2014 was just shy of a half degree Farhenheit above the average for 1981 to 2010. That doesn't sound like much, but a half degree above average on a global basis is actually HUGE.

It's not even close to the previous hot years of 2010, 2005 or 1998, says JMA. (The three years were pretty much tied; which one got the edge depended upon which agency was doing the measuring.)

The other major climate tracking agencies have all said 2014 will very likely be the hottest year on record.  NASA, The Climate Data Center and the UK Met Office will release their official assessments later this month.

The UK Met Office doesn't have the official word for the global yet, but the agency says 2014 was Britain's hottest year on record.  Eight of the UK's top 10 warmest years have occured since 2002.

Yes, it's cold in part of the United States today, but it appears global warming continues on and on.

It will be interesting to see how 2015 does on a global basis.