2015 heat record 'smashed'

2015 smashed the record for the hottest year since reporting began in 1850, according to the first full-year figures from the world’s three principal temperature estimates.

Data released on Wednesday by the UK Met Office shows the average global temperature in 2015 was 0.75C higher than the long-term average between 1961 and 1990, much higher than the 0.57C in 2014, which itself was a record. The Met Office also expects 2016 to set a new record, meaning the global temperature records will have been broken for three years running.

Temperature data released in the US on Wednesday by NASA and by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also showed 2015 shattered previous records.

Read The Guardian story - "2015 smashes record for hottest year, final figures confirm.”