--- description: According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), May 2014was the world's hottest on record. title: NOAA: 2014 Had Hottest May Ever image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5cd190e8d075226/698698e9361760a89890cc1d/451023622.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [weather](/tag/weather/) ## weather Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # It Was Officially The Hottest May Ever by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 24, 2014 11:55 AM CUT  A family of seagulls are silhouetted on the rooftops of Peckham as the sun goes down A family of seagulls are silhouetted on the rooftops of Peckham as the sun goes downMary Turner—Getty Images by [Laura Stampler](/author/laura-stampler/) ## Laura Stampler Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jun 24, 2014 11:55 AM CUT This year has been one of weather anomalies. Not only did the the polar vortex provide for some cities’ [coldest winters in a decade](http://www.weather.com/news/weather-winter/coldest-arctic-outbreak-1990s-midwest-south-east-20140103 "undefined"), but according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), this May was the[ world’s hottest on record.](http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/global/2014/5 "undefined") The combined average temperature of global land and ocean surfaces was 58.6°F. While that might not seem too hot, the dry temperature had repercussions in the United States at least. The NOAA reports 37.5% of the United States was in drought. Not only did the conditions deteriorate across Kansas and Oklahoma, but the dry conditions in the Southern Plans and the West helped [fuel various wildfires.](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/18/jerry-brown-california-wildfires-%5Fn%5F5348103.html "undefined") Here’s a map of noteworthy May climate anomalies around the world:  NOAA ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/2917053/may-hot-temperature-noaa/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/2917053/may-hot-temperature-noaa/"},"headline":"It Was Officially The Hottest May Ever","datePublished":"2014-06-24T11:55:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:13.032Z","description":"The polar vortex seems like a long time ago now","url":"https://time.com/2917053/may-hot-temperature-noaa/","keywords":["weather","NOAA","temperature"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5cd190e8d075226/698698e9361760a89890cc1d/451023622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Laura Stampler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/laura-stampler/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte5cd190e8d075226/698698e9361760a89890cc1d/451023622.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Sun Goes Down Over South London","caption":"The Sun Goes Down Over South London","creditText":"Mary Turner—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/weather/","name":"weather"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/2917053/may-hot-temperature-noaa/","name":"It Was Officially The Hottest May Ever"}}]}] ```