Hottest Year

After a string of monthly records, the Japan Meteorological Agency announces that 2014 was the hottest year since records began about 120 years ago.  The JMA data now puts 1998 in second place by 0.05 degree Celsius.  2013 was the third warmest.

Update (January 16):  Both NOAA and NASA confirm that 2014 is the warmest year in the temperature record.  The NOAA data puts 2010 and 2005 in second place by 0.04 degree Celsius.

Update (January 25):  Assuming no anthropogenic climate change, the probability that 13 of the 15 warmest years occurring since 2000 is about one in 27 million.  That's good evidence to reject the null hypothesis.

Update (February 7):  Lindsay Abrams points out that rankings are not as significant as the fact that 14 of the 15 warmest years have occurred since 2000.

Update (March 18):  The three months ending with February are now the warmest winter on record.

Update (July 27):  An overview of climate for 2014.