Already since the beginning of last November, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) with data up to the preceding month, foresaw (and already assured) that the present year would be on «the podium» of the warmest years in history. While its numbers and the maintained trend would not allow it to surpass 2024, the warmest on record, it could be between second and third, «contending» with 2023. Therefore, we assert that the last three years have been the warmest globally.

In the 26-month span between the summers of 2023 and 2025 (from June of the first to August of the second) every month reported record temperatures in a streak that was only momentarily interrupted in February of this year.

If we look at the behaviour of the global daily mean temperature, we will note not only the above but also how far above the rest these values have been. In red appears the behaviour of 2025 up to early December, in orange 2024 and in grey the other previous values.

2023, although in grey, is distinguishable because it stands out from the rest and especially because from the month of July onwards, it flirts with the values of 2024 and 2025, going above them on some occasions. The dashed lines represent the average value over 30 years in different periods, marking what is considered «normal», which as we see has had a progressive increase.

If we remove from that graph all the years from 1991 to date, we find that only on very rare occasions did they exceed the average value and never in a sustained manner, and those that did were the last years of that group. This illustrates to us how the years of the «present» are not only warmer than the average value, but they surpass it by far and at all times.

Something that does not astonish, since since 2015 (11 years) all are found, in different order, at the top of the list. An element that has contributed to this warming, especially in the last three years, is the excessive (which could also well be called extreme) warming of the oceans.

Although it can also be considered a consequence, as it is one of the ways the Earth «retains» that excess heat, storing 90 percent of it in the ocean, generating warming. Therefore, more excess heat is stored in the sea which in turn further contributes to the rise in temperatures.

It is alarming that with this trend the effects are already being recorded in aspects such as the reduction in sea ice extent and the rise in mean sea level.

Already with the most recent data, a possible tie between 2025 and 2023 as the second-warmest on record is being announced. Data from the Copernicus programme, belonging to the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, corroborate the tie (which could be momentary) after the third-warmest November on record.

In the monthly comparison, in which the last 3 years stand out, it is observed that especially in the period from June to December they have notably distanced themselves from previous years, breaking records with notable values. (Author Elier Pila Fariñas)