2025 was the third-warmest year on record, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The warmest year on record is still 2024, with 2023 coming in second. The global average surface temperature for 2025 was estimated to be 1.44° Celsius (2.59° Fahrenheit) higher than preindustrial levels. The last 11 years have been the warmest 11 years since global records began in 1850. “The year 2025 started and ended with a cooling La Niña and yet it was still one of the warmest years on record globally because of the accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in our atmosphere,” WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo said in a statement. Annual global mean temperature anomalies relative to the 1850-1900 average, shown from 1850 to 2025 across eight data sets. Image courtesy of WMO. To calculate the mean temperature of 2025, the WMO consolidated eight different data sets from agencies based in North America, Europe and Asia. Each data set uses a different methodology, resulting in slightly different conclusions and a margin of uncertainty of ±0.13°C (±0.23°F). Six of the data sets were based on measurements made at weather stations and by ships and buoys. The other two, ERA5 by the EU-run Copernicus Climate Change Service and JRA-3Q by the Japan Meteorological Agency, are based on modeling. Although it wasn’t the warmest year on record, 2025 was expected to be cooler due to a La Niña event, which typically lowers ocean surface temperatures. But separate research published in January found that the world’s oceans set a…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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