WMO confirms 2025 one of warmest years on record

GENEVA -- The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) confirmed on Wednesday that 2025 was among the three warmest years on record, extending a streak of exceptionally high global temperatures.

The global average surface temperature in 2025 was 1.44 degrees Celsius above the 1850-1900 average, according to the WMO's consolidated analysis of eight datasets. Two of the datasets ranked 2025 as the second warmest year in the 176-year record, while the other six ranked it third, the WMO said in a press release.

The past three years - 2023, 2024 and 2025 - were the three warmest years across all eight datasets. The consolidated three-year average temperature for 2023-2025 stood at 1.48 degrees above pre-industrial levels.

"The year 2025 began and ended with cooling La Nina conditions, yet it still ranked among the warmest years on record due to the accumulation of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," said WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo. She added that high land and ocean temperatures helped fuel extreme weather events, including heatwaves, heavy rainfall and intense tropical cyclones, underscoring the need for early warning systems.

According to the WMO, a separate study published in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences found that ocean temperatures in 2025 were also among the highest on record, reflecting the long-term accumulation of heat in the climate system. About 90 percent of excess heat from global warming is stored in the oceans, making ocean heat a critical indicator of climate change.