--- 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=3840&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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 2015 Was the Warmest Year on Record by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 20, 2016 4:48 PM CUT  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](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Jan 20, 2016 4:48 PM CUT Last year was the [warmest year on record](http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201512 "undefined"), 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/ "undefined") 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. \[[NOAA](http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/sotc/summary-info/global/201512 "undefined")\] ```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"}}]}] ```