The winter of 2014-15 was the Earth’s warmest on record, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration reported Wednesday.
The global average temperature from December through February was 1.42 degrees above the 20th century average and
beat the previous record, set in 2007, by 0.05 degree, the NOAA said.
Those months are winter in the northern hemisphere, where 90 percent of the world’s population lives. The southern hemisphere experienced the
fourth-warmest summer on record during those months, USA Today reported.
Eastern North America experienced cooler than normal temperatures during the winter, while the warmest areas were in the western United States, central Siberia and eastern Mongolia, USA Today said.
Warm sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific, known as an El Niño pattern, contributed to warmer temperatures.
Looking at the United States alone, the winter was the
19th warmest on record, The Weather Channel reported.
Twitter users shared mixed reactions.
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