Earlier this week, NASA released its latest estimate for May and year-to-date global temperatures. The latest data show that for 2015 so far, the Earth is on pace to set a new record high temperature. This is due in part to the presence of the large pool of warmer than normal ocean temperatures in the eastern Pacific Ocean associated with the El Nino that is occurring there, and was predicted earlier this year.
Of course, we still have more than half the year to go, so if things cool off in the second half of the year, then we could see a return to temperatures similar to those earlier in the decade. However, predictions of El Nino indicate that it is likely to continue through the rest of this year and will last until next winter, which would make a new global annual temperature record more likely.
You can read more about this at The Guardian.
