Spring 2010 the Warmest on Record, May 2010 Tied for Warmest Around the Globe

The Earth is hot. How hot? NASA temperature data released earlier this year for many thousands of temperature locations around the globe over land and sea revealed that April 2010 was the warmest April on record, that March 2010 was the second warmest on record, and that the winter of 2009-2010 was the second warmest winter on record.

Today the Goddard Institute releases its global temperature data for the month of May 2010 and its collected measures for the Spring 2010 months of March, April and May. If you measure global temperature over both land and ocean, May 2010 is tied with May 1998 as the warmest May on record; if you look only at temperatures over land, May 2010 is the warmest May on record, warmer even than May 1998, the year of a heat wave that killed large numbers of people around the world. Taken together, the Spring months of 2010 made for the Spring on record.

Let’s consider this record heat in context. In order from hotter to not quite as hot, the following are the top ten hottest Mays on record in NASA’s data:

1. 2010
2. 1998 (tied with 2010)
3. 2007
4. 2002
5. 2009
6. 2005
7. 2003
8. 2001
9. 2008
10. 2006

And in order from coldest to not quite as cold, the following are the top ten coolest Mays on record in NASA’s data:

1. 1917
2. 1890
3. 1907
4. 1918
5. 1909
6. 1911
7. 1904
8. 1913
9. 1893
10. 1884

In order from hotter to not quite as hot, the following are the top ten hottest Springs on record in NASA’s data:

1. 2010
2. 2002
3. 2005
4. 2007
5. 1998
6. 1990
7. 2008
8. 2003
9. 2009
10. 2004

And in order from coldest to not quite as cold, the following are the top ten coolest Springs on record in NASA’s data:

1. 1917
2. 1911
3. 1909
4. 1890
5. 1907
6. 1918
7. 1908
8. 1904
9. 1884
10. 1913

Put in context, the recent temperature findings for May of 2010 and Spring 2010 are part of a clear long-term warming climate pattern.