Bringing the Heat: 2022 Ranks 6th Warmest on Record for the Planet
January 16, 2023 If you would have bet that 2022 would place in the Top 10 warmest on record for Planet Earth, you’d be right. The latest report from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information confirms 2022 as the sixth-warmest year on record since 1880.
According to the report, Earth’s average land and ocean surface temperature in 2022 was 1.55°F above the 20th-century average of 57°F — the sixth highest among all years in the 1880-2022 record.
It also marked the 46th-consecutive year (since 1977) with global temperatures rising above the 20th-century average. The 10-warmest years on record have all occurred since 2010, with the last nine years (2014-2022) among the 10-warmest years.
NOAA’s not the only game in town though when it comes to climate scorekeeping. NASA conducted its own analysis, determining that 2022 ranked as Earth’s fifth-warmest year on record, tied with 2015.
In addition, the European Commission’s Copernicus website ranked 2022 as the globe’s fifth-warmest year on record.
Besides the heat, there were plenty other extreme-weather events around the U.S. that made headlines in 2022.
- Category 4 Hurricane Ian struck Florida in late September, delivering massive destruction and a big blow to the state’s ag sectors. Just 43 days later, Category 1 Hurricane Nicole slammed the East Coast of the Sunshine State, adding salt to the wound.
- Extreme drought conditions continued to plague the Western U.S. this past year. Growers of all commodities have been learning how to cope with the water woes.
- On the flip side, it did get cold in 2022 as well. A potent freeze event put growers in Florida and the Southeast U.S. on the defensive early in the year.
To check out all the details from NOAA’s 2022 Global Climate Report, visit ncei.noaa.gov.
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