Second Warmest Year

The Copernicus Climate Change Service reports that the global mean temperature for 2019 was only 0.04 degree Celsius cooler than 2016 which remains the warmest year in the temperature record. Jean-Noël Thépaut:

The past five years have been the five warmest on record [globally]; the last decade has been the warmest on record: These are unquestionably alarming signs.

Update (January 15):  A study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences finds that "the world’s oceans (especially at upper 2000 m) in 2019 were the warmest in recorded human history".

Update (January 19):  NOAA and NASA confirm the findings for 2019.

Update (February 16):  NOAA reports that last month was the warmest January in the temperature record.

[T]he average global land and ocean surface temperature last month was 2.5F (or 1.14C) above the 20th-century average. This measurement marginally surpassed the previous January record, set in 2016.