ORLANDO, Fla. — NASA scientists led an analysis showing that last year’s average surface temperature was the warmest on record.
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After 15 consecutive months of tracking monthly temperature records, NASA confirmed the new temperature peak by recording the extraordinary heat streak.
“Once again, the temperature record has been shattered — 2024 was the hottest year since record-keeping began in 1880,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
Nelson continues, “Between record-breaking temperatures and wildfires currently threatening our centers and workforce in California, it has never been more important to understand our changing planet.”
Scientists have concluded that the warming trend of recent decades is driven by heat-trapping carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases.
According to recent studies, Earth saw record increases in carbon dioxide emissions from fossil fuels in 2022 and 2023.
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“When changes happen in the climate, you see it first in the global mean, then you see it at the continental scale and then at the regional scale. Now, we’re seeing it at the local level,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York.
“The changes occurring in people’s everyday weather experiences have become abundantly clear.”
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