--- title: 2015 Was the Warmest Year on Record description: By the widest margin on record canonical: https://time.com/4187002/2015-warmest-year-on-record/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-01-20T16:48:59.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T14:17:24.831Z article:section: Science og:title: 2015 Was the Warmest Year on Record og:description: By the widest margin on record og:url: https://time.com/4187002/2015-warmest-year-on-record/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6ca53fd17a3fd68/698879d0bc6cfc6ec13db516/polar-ice.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Aerial view of the Hubbard Glacier which is a glacier og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: 2015 Was the Warmest Year on Record twitter:description: By the widest margin on record twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6ca53fd17a3fd68/698879d0bc6cfc6ec13db516/polar-ice.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 2015 Was the Warmest Year on Record by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 20, 2016 4:48 PM UTC  Aerial view of the Hubbard Glacier which is a glacier located in eastern Alaska and part of Yukon Canada. Elements of this image furnished by NASA. Aerial view of the Hubbard Glacier which is a glacier located in eastern Alaska and part of Yukon Canada. Elements of this image furnished by NASA.Roberto Machado Noa—LightRocket/Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 20, 2016 4:48 PM UTC Last year was the [warmest year on record](http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201512), breaking previous highs by the largest margins on record. In an annual report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, officials said the overall global temperature was up 1.62°F (0.90°C) from the 20th century average, breaking the previous record set in 2014 by 0.29°F (0.16°C). New globally-averaged [highs](http://time.com/4147776/warm-east-coast-weather/) were registered both in land surface and sea surface temperatures. This is the fourth time a new global record has been set in the 21st century. Ten out of 12 months in 2015 saw new monthly records set. \[[NOAA](http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201512)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4187002/2015-warmest-year-on-record/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4187002/2015-warmest-year-on-record/"},"headline":"2015 Was the Warmest Year on Record","datePublished":"2016-01-20T16:48:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T14:17:24.831Z","description":"By the widest margin on record","url":"https://time.com/4187002/2015-warmest-year-on-record/","keywords":["Environment"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6ca53fd17a3fd68/698879d0bc6cfc6ec13db516/polar-ice.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blta6ca53fd17a3fd68/698879d0bc6cfc6ec13db516/polar-ice.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Aerial view of the Hubbard Glacier which is a glacier","caption":"Aerial view of the Hubbard Glacier which is a glacier","creditText":"Roberto Machado Noa—LightRocket/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/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4187002/2015-warmest-year-on-record/","name":"2015 Was the Warmest Year on Record"}}]}] ```