"January 2015 was the second warmest January since record keeping began in 1880, said NOAA's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) on Thursday. NASA also rated January 2015 as the 2nd warmest January on record, behind January 2007, which had the warmest departure from average of any month in recorded history. January 2015's near-record warmth continues a trend of very warm months for the planet--December 2014 was the warmest December on record, and 2014 was Earth's warmest calendar year on record. Global ocean temperatures during January 2015 were the 3rd warmest on record, and global land temperatures were the 2nd warmest on record. Global satellite-measured temperatures in January 2015 for the lowest 8 km of the atmosphere were the 7th or 5th warmest in the 37-year record, according to Remote Sensing Systems and the University of Alabama Huntsville (UAH), respectively." - Todd Hoff