2025 Was the Third Warmest Year on Record Globally

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), along with other international climate research institutions, announced this week that 2025 was the third warmest year on record (since 1850), just behind 2023 and 2024. Earth’s average land and ocean surface temperature in 2025 was 1.17 degrees Celsius (2.11 degrees Fahrenheit) above the 20th-century average of 13.9°C (57.0°F). This value narrowly missed the second place currently held by 2023 (+1.19°C) and trailed the record set in 2024 (+1.29°C).

Notably, if we extend the analysis, the planet's ten warmest years officially recorded have now all occurred since 2015, as global annual surface temperatures (mean for land and sea) diverged between about 0.9°C and 1.3°C from the 20th-century average over the last decade. As our chart shows, while 2016 was the first year to exceed the 1.0°C (1.8°F) threshold, that benchmark has since been surpassed in 2020 and again by each of the last three consecutive years (2023-2025). And it's unlikely that the planet's hot streak will come to an end this year.

According to the "Global Annual to Decadal Climate Update 2025" published recently by the World Meteorological Organization, the planet is predicted to experience temperatures between 1.2°C and 1.9°C above pre-industrial levels (1850–1900) over the next five years (approximately 1.0-1.7°C above the 20th-century average), with an 80-percent chance that at least one year between now and 2029 will be even hotter.