Last year tied for the warmest globally since records began, a US agency said, capping a decade of record high temperatures and raising concerns about more storms and floods related to climate change.
Combined global land and ocean temperatures in 2010 were 0.62 degrees above the 20th century average, tying the record set in 2005, the National Climatic Data Center, an office of the National Oceanic and Atmospheri Administration (Noaa), said in a release.
Despite a cold winter in the United States and Europe, 2010 in many places, such as Russia and Pakistan, suffered from heat waves and floods.
From mid-June to mid-August an unusually strong jet stream shifted northward of western Russia and plunged southward into Pakistan. The pattern was locked in place for weeks, bringing an unprecedented two-month heat wave to Russia, wrecking wheat crops. It also contributed to devastating floods in Pakistan at the end of July, Noaa said.
The El Nino weather pattern also helped raise temperatures early in the year.
Noaa's report, which relied on data going back to 1880, was the first of several on global 2010 temperatures.
Nasa will issue its report as soon as this week and the UK Met Office's Hadley Centre will report later this month. The UN's World Meteorological Organization will have the final say when it releases its report around the end of the month.
Reuters