• It was the warmest January–August on record (1880-2010 = 131 years) for the global land and ocean temperature. 

Year-to-date (January–August)

The January–August 2010 map of temperature anomalies shows above-average temperatures over most of the globe's surface area. The warmest surface temperature anomalies for the year-to-date period occurred over Canada, the northern U.S., southern Greenland, Africa, southwest Asia, and the tropical North Atlantic Ocean. Cool temperature anomalies were present across central Asia, non-equatorial eastern Pacific Ocean, and the southern oceans. The global land and ocean surface combined temperature for January–August 2010 tied with 1998 as the warmest such period on record with temperatures 0.67°C (1.21°F) above the 20^th century average. Global ocean surface temperatures were the second warmest January–August on record, behind 1998, with temperatures 0.53°C (0.95°F) above the 20^th century average. The average global land surface temperature for the period was 1.04°C (1.87°F) above the 20^th century reference period and ranked as the warmest January–August on record.