It’s official: 2024 was the planet’s warmest year on record, according to an analysis by scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI).

Along with historic heat, Antarctic sea ice coverage dropped to its second-lowest extent (coverage) on record.

Below are highlights from NOAA’s 2024 annual global climate report:

Climate by the numbers

Earth’s average land and ocean surface temperature in 2024 was 2.32 degrees F (1.29 degrees C) above the 20th-century average — the highest global temperature among all years in NOAA’s 1850-2024 climate record. It was 0.18 of a degree F (0.10 of a degree C) warmer than 2023, which was previously the warmest year on record. 

Regionally, Africa, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America (tied with 2023) had their warmest year on record. Asia and the Arctic had their second-warmest year on record.

The planet’s 10 warmest years since 1850 have all occurred in the past decade. In 2024, global temperature exceeded the pre-industrial (1850–1900) average by 2.63 degrees F (1.46 degrees C).

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