Publication Date January 20, 2011 | The Guardian

Met Office: 2010 was second warmest year on record

2010 saw a number of extreme weather events, including a summer heatwave which sparked wildfires in Russia. Photograph: Associated Press AP
2010 saw a number of extreme weather events, including a summer heatwave which sparked wildfires in Russia. Photograph: Associated Press AP

Last year was the second warmest on record after 1998, the Met Office announced today. With a mean temperature of 14.5C, 2010 was 0.5C warmer than the global average from 1961-1990, according to data from the Met Office and the University of East Anglia. These figures follow two similar announcements last week from National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Nasa's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, which suggested that 2010 was the joint warmest year on their respective records...2010 saw a number of extreme weather events, including a summer heatwave in Russia, floods in Pakistan, Australia and China and heavy snowfall in northern Europe.