The globe saw its 12th-consecutive month of record warmth
MARILAO, PHILIPPINES - MAY 04, 2024: Workers prepare to dump blocks of ice at a pool amid extreme heat in Marilao, Bulacan province. Sweltering conditions strained power grids, sparked health warnings, and left residents desperate for ways to stay cool. May 2024 was the world's warmest May on record. (Image credit: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images)
Last month marked a full year of record-high global temperatures, with May 2024 ranking as the warmest May on record.
Earth’s ocean temperatures also set a record high for the 14th month in a row, according to data and scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information.
Climate by the numbers
May 2024
The average global May temperature was 2.12 degrees F (1.18 degrees C) above the 20th-century average of 58.6 degrees F (14.8 degrees C), ranking as the warmest May in NOAA’s 175-year global record. May 2024 marked the 12th-consecutive month of record-high temperatures for the planet.
Looking at the world’s land masses, temperatures were above average across most of the globe except for western North America, Greenland, southern South America, western Russia and parts of eastern Antarctica. Africa had its warmest May on record.
May 2024 was the 14th-consecutive month of record-warm ocean temperatures, a streak that has been running since April 2023. Looking regionally, sea surface temperatures were above average over most areas (and record warm over the tropical Atlantic Ocean), while parts of the Southern, southeastern Pacific and southern Indian Ocean basins were below average.
Season | Year to date
The March–May period — defined as the Northern Hemisphere's meteorological spring and the Southern Hemisphere's meteorological autumn — was the warmest on record at 2.32 degrees F (1.29 degrees C) above average.
The year-to-date (YTD, January through May 2024) global surface temperature ranked as the warmest such period on record, 2.38 degrees F (1.32 degrees C) above average. Africa, Europe and South America each had their warmest such YTD period, with North America ranking second warmest.
According to NCEI’s Global Annual Temperature Rankings Outlook, there is a 50% chance that 2024 will rank as the warmest year on record and a 100% chance that it will rank in the top five.
Other notable climate events
- World’s sea ice coverage was below average: Global sea ice extent (coverage) was the seventh smallest in the 46-year record at 8.51 million square miles, which was 460,000 square miles below the 1991–2020 average. Arctic sea ice extent was below average by 60,000 square miles, and Antarctic sea ice extent was below average by 390,000 square miles.
- Tropical activity was slightly above average: Five named storms occurred across the globe in May, which was above the 1991–2020 average of four. Two of these reached tropical cyclone strength: Tropical Cyclone Hidaya in the South Indian Ocean basin, which brought gusty winds and rain to coastal Tanzania, and Typhoon Ewiniar, which caused flooding and wind damage in the Philippines and Japan.
More > Read NOAA’s global May climate report and download the images.
