Ten Hottest Years on Record

The top 10 hottest years on record have all occurred in this century. People often ask "what are the 10 warmest years on record?" and you will find the answer here with results from NASA and NOAA.

BREAKING NEWS: 2023 is officially the hottest year on record, as confirmed by both NASA and NOAA (Source).

Below you will see the list of the top ten hottest years not including 2023. This data should clearly show you the urgency of the situation.

This website contains a great deal of good information about climate change so please take the time to look at the other webpages. Spreading awareness by sharing articles is also very helpful. We need to act together to help fight the climate crisis.

Top 10 Rankings (Updated in 2023 so excluding 2023 which is current hottest year)

The top 10 hottest years globally on record according to NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Source, bottom of page and newest version):

  1. 2016
  2. 2020
  3. 2019
  4. 2017
  5. 2015
  6. 2022 (tied with 2015)
  7. 2018
  8. 2021 (tied with 2018)
  9. 2014
  10. 2010

The top 10 hottest years globally according to NASA (Source, look under "Global-mean monthly, seasonal, and annual means, 1880-present, updated through most recent month"):

  1. 2016
  2. 2020 (tied with 2016)
  3. 2019
  4. 2017
  5. 2015
  6. 2022
  7. 2018
  8. 2021 (tied with 2018)
  9. 2014
  10. 2010
Record Temperatures

What Is Causing This?

The previous decade was the hottest one recorded so far with regions around the world experiencing all-time high heat waves.

Human-induced global warming, as researchers have established, is the cause of the extreme temperatures in the last ten years.

Not to mention, studies seeking to establish the cause of global weather extremes such as those experienced worldwide suggest that human influence due to emissions of greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation is the cause of the drastic weather changes.

Temperatures are rising drastically around the world

According to an international collaboration of scientists, the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere had a significant influence on the rise in global temperatures.

The truth is that the increase in these emissions will make it much more difficult to forestall any climate changes in the future. As a result, these devastating effects are a cause for concern on a global scale.

The Ten Hottest Years on Record

Here is a graph that shows temperatures and more info can be found at the website of the NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Source):

Hottest Years

From NOAA

The Dire Consequences

There is clearly a warming trend despite claims from climate change deniers funded by the fossil fuel industry.

Consequently, record low temperatures and cold days in various regions have been on a steep decline as the hot days and heat waves in other areas increase at alarming rates.

There is a shrinking number of cold records, while extreme heat events become more common and become more severe. An article from Axios in 2019 states that for the United States, the Associated Press reports: "Since 1999, the ratio has been two warm records set or broken for every cold one. In 16 of the last 20 years, there have been more daily high temperature records than low" (Source).

The effect of the rising temperatures is perhaps more visible in the Arctic region. This is mainly because permafrost is very sensitive to temperature changes.

Once the ice melts, the result would be a complete disaster, especially to buildings as well as other structures.

Such cases are spreading in some regions where repairs have to be conducted on infrastructure due to destabilization.

Storms are becoming more powerful
The top 12 hottest years on record happened in the last 15 years

Health Impacts

Global warming also has a negative impact on health. The fact that the hottest years on record have been recent should be concerning.

Regions around the world continue to experience deteriorating health attributed to higher temperatures.

This, combined with increased humidity, can be a cause of death.

On the other hand, the warmer temperatures and higher carbon dioxide levels are conducive to the faster growth of certain allergen producing plants.

The result of this is an increase in the number of health cases linked to allergic diseases and chronic illnesses.

Pollen seasons are getting longer. Also, right now, allergy cases cost 21 billion dollars annually for the United States as it afflicts 60 million people (Source).

There is a growing body of evidence that demonstrates that rising temperatures and carbon dioxide levels lead to an increase in pollen from ragweed (Source).

Hotter days, along with more rain and humidity, will lead to more ticks, which will spread infectious diseases such as Lyme disease. By 2080, ticks may spread to much of the Eastern United States (Source).

Climate change will increase the frequency and intensity of storms

Other Troubling Effects of Climate Change

The effects of global warming are spine chilling and virtually inexhaustible.

Other effects of climate change include drought, which in turn affects the food yields and water supplies.

Climate change will cause a worsening of:

As much as the impacts are felt on varying scales in different regions, it’s a wake-up call to all nations.

Back in 2015, there was an article that mentioned how the fact that 14 of the 15 hottest years on record have occurred in this century is enough for us to mobilize change in the right direction (Source).

We should also take into account that the 2010s was the hottest decade ever recorded (Source).

Strict measures should be taken to reduce the impact of global warming through better planning and alternative production strategies to reduce carbon dioxide emissions before it's too late.

The Earth has a Fever

From National Geographic

Further Reading and Sources


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